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Semenya: What's the big deal
2009-08-20 15:00
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Celebrating Caster Semenya (AP)
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Berlin - The reason behind the biggest controversy at the world championships is lost on Caster Semenya, the 18-year-old South African runner who is undergoing a gender test to prove she is a woman.
GALLERY: Caster Semenya
VIDEO: Caster Semenya interviewed Semenya dominated her rivals to win the 800m on Wednesday despite revelations that surfaced earlier in the day that she was undergoing a gender verification test because of concerns she does not meet the requirements to compete as a woman.
"She said to me she doesn't see what the big deal is all about," South Africa team manager Phiwe Mlangeni-Tsholetsane said on Thursday. "She believes it is God given talent and she will exercise it."
Mlangeni-Tsholetsane said Semenya was thrilled with winning her race and picking up her first world title.
"She was over the moon," Mlangeni-Tsholetsane said.
Semenya wasn't the only one wondering what all the fuss was about.
Her father, Jacob, dismissed the speculation.
"She is my little girl," he told the Sowetan newspaper. "I raised her and I have never doubted her gender. She is a woman and I can repeat that a million times."
Semenya's paternal grandmother, Maputhi Sekgala, said the controversy "doesn't bother me that much because I know she's a woman."
"What can I do when they call her a man, when she's really not a man? It is God who made her look that way," Sekgala told the The Times.
About three weeks ago, the IAAF asked the South African athletics federation to conduct the gender test after Semenya burst onto the scene by posting a world leading time of 1 minute, 56.72 seconds at the African junior championships in Bambous, Maritius.
The teenager's stunning improvement in times, along with her muscular build and deep voice, sparked speculation about her gender.
The verification test, which takes weeks to complete, requires a physical medical evaluation, and includes reports from a gynecologist, endocrinologist, psychologist, an internal medicine specialist and an expert on gender.
Gideon Sam, the president of South Africa's Olympic governing body, congratulated Semenya on a "truly remarkable achievement."
"We condemn the way she was linked with such media speculation and allegation, especially on a day she ran in the final of her first major world event," Sam said. "It's the biggest day of her life."
Morris Gilbert, a media consultant for TuksSport, the University of Pretoria's sports department, said the issue of Semenya's gender has not been raised since the 18-year-old freshman began attending the school, where she studies sports science.
"We are all very proud of her and of what she's achieved," Gilbert said. "The university stands behind her all the way."
He attributed her recent success to hard work and rigorous training.
"She trains a lot," Gilbert said. "If you go to the athletics track, you're sure to find her there. I don't think she had really good training before she came to the university. She's from a very poor area."
While Semenya's case has attracted a flurry of attention, it's not the first gender controversy in track and field history.
In 2006, the Asian Games 800 champion, Santhi Soundarajan of India, was stripped of her medal after failing a gender test. Perhaps the most famous case is that of Stella Walsh, also known as Stanislawa Walasiewicz, a Polish athlete who won gold in the 100 at the 1932 Olympics, who had ambiguous genitalia.
Until 1999, the IOC conducted gender verification tests at the Olympics but the controversial screenings were dropped before the 2000 Sydney Games.
One reason for the change was that not all women have standard female chromosomes. In addition, there are cases of people who have ambiguous genitalia or other congenital conditions.