So – are her looks so masculine as to warrant this attention?
You decide:
18 year old Caster Semenya’s gold medal in tonight’s 800m race at the World Championships in Berlin should have been a proud moment of the South African’s life – but instead it is marred with controversy about her gender.
From The NY Times:
Earlier in the day, I.A.A.F. officials had confirmed that Semenya, a muscular 18-year-old from South Africa competing in her first senior championship, was undergoing sex-determination testing to confirm her eligibility to race as a woman.
Apparently some of her fellow 800m runners were not happy. Elisa Cusma of Italy, who finished sixth, said in a postrace interview with Italian journalists “These kind of people should not run with us,” For me, she’s not a woman. She’s a man.”
Mariya Savinova, a Russian who finished fifth, told Russian journalists that she did not believe Semenya would be able to pass a test. “Just look at her,” Savinova said.
Christopher Meatto