Can Caster Semenya medal at WCs?

[jpaule]

Anyone pick her to make finals? medal? win?

[AS]

yes, possibly, longershot (but she has the time on the board)...

Nice preview here:
http://www.runnerstribe.com/lenjohnson14.php

[jeremyp]

Have no clue. She's just too untested and in a huge meet that could unerve her or, being a complete novice, a la Jelimo, she might be nerveless. We'll know at the end of the semi final, if she gets that far.

[doug091463]

or it could go the other way, if she was able to run 1:56.72 in a comparatively small meet with little competition, probably in front of relatively small crowds, what can she run in a huge meet with a sold out stadium to get her adrenaline going? on another thread i said 1:52 for a new world record, okay as some of you know i always predict on the fast side probably because it is what i am hoping to see, that 1:52 is probably another prediction that is too fast, but for the reasons given even a more reasonable person can see the liklihood that she will run faster than the 1:56.72 she ran in the african juniors.

[croflash]

She has the fastest time in the world this year and noone else has been lighting it up. Maybe she can't be considered a favorite to win the gold medal, but a contender for sure.

[jpaule]

Rumor that she was born a hermaphrodite .
Do they test for this at worlds, olympics, national meets???
What's the deal if positive results?

[Daisy]

Rumor that she was born a hermaphrodite.

You mean she is XY? Depending on the condition it can be OK. For example, many woman who have androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS) can still compete as woman since the requirement to pass a chromosome based sex test is no longer used.

At the 1992 Olympics 5 out of 2,406 women tested as "male", all with some form of AIS.
In the 1996 Atlanta games 8 women out of 3387 didn't pass as female - 4 with CAIS and 3 with PAIS.

Source

[Taliban]

Rumor that she was born a hermaphrodite .
Do they test for this at worlds, olympics, national meets???
What's the deal if positive results?

rumor from where?

[Marlow]

Rumor that she was born a hermaphrodite .
Do they test for this at worlds, olympics, national meets???
What's the deal if positive results?

rumor from where?

Yeah, I'm not too impressed by 'there's a rumor'. I see it it the same as drug talk. Stop spreading info that you have no facts about.

[Matt1]

Think the hermaphrodite stuff is just rumour mongering.

Very startling to have improved by so much in one year. Jelimo No 2.

[3a]

http://blogs.sport24.co.za/runbird/Midd ... nce-Maiden

Posted tidbits about the SA World team including a detailed discussion on Caster. This was prior to her running sub 2 minutes and by a credible writer whom I have been reading for quite a while. This is where the "idea" comes from.

He writes that "she has had a series of tests" and is classed as female - I don't know what to make of it, TBH.

By all accounts, Caster is a complete Novice and wasn;t even running prior to 2008! :shock:

[jpaule]

Rumor that she was born a hermaphrodite .
Do they test for this at worlds, olympics, national meets???
What's the deal if positive results?

rumor from where?

Yeah, I'm not too impressed by 'there's a rumor'. I see it it the same as drug talk. Stop spreading info that you have no facts about.

Read on Let's Run WC predictions. Outside of Vessey, would love to see her do well at worlds.

[cacique]

well, apparently it's not a rumor. this was discussed initially here:

http://mb.trackandfieldnews.com/discuss ... 66&start=0

the news article from south africa mentions in passing that she is a "hermaphrodite" but that doesn't clarify much what it means.

perhaps she was born intersexed (which btw is not the same as being transgender or transsexual). in any event, apparently she was declared a female for competition. hopefully this case won't end up like poor sundarajan, which was totally mishandled by the qataris. last we heard of her, she had attempted suicide.

i'd hope people would educate themselves about these issues and take them seriously, rather than make crude and ignorant comments.

PS: oh yeah, can't access the article posted by 3a. it says "server too busy."

[eldrick]

working out what exactly is her condition is a nightmare as there are so many variants

however, if she does possess rudimentary testes, then she will be producing more testosterone than a "true" female ( who produce small amounts from the adrenals/ovaries - even females require small levels of testo for normal physiological functioning )

obviously it's a fault of nature, but it still gives her natural born advantage over true females

very difficult situation...

[jpaule]

working out what exactly is her condition is a nightmare as there are so many variants

however, if she does possess rudimentary testes, then she will be producing more testosterone than a "true" female ( who produce small amounts from the adrenals/ovaries - even females require small levels of testo for normal physiological functioning )

obviously it's a fault of nature, but it still gives her natural born advantage over true females

very difficult situation...

Thanks, Eldrick, it is a difficult situation. I was just curious what IOC and IAAF policy is on such cases. Other than testosterone testing, are there any other guidelines?
I certainly wish this young person the best both on and off the track.