The fuss over what is Caster Semenya's gender reminds me of an athlete from the 1980s, Jarmila Kratochvílová. Jarmila Kratochvílová was a Czech woman 400 metre runner who ran her first public 800 metre race and broke the world record (a world record that has never been surpassed). 10 days later she had won both the 400 metre and 800 metre events at the first World Athletics Championships in Helsinki (she also won gold in the 4x400 metre relay). Jarmila Kratochvílová was an incredible athlete and at the time questions were raised about her gender and her drug taking.
It seems to me that there are girly girls and manly women and Kratochvílová was in the latter camp. As for Caster Semenya, time will tell although when I saw the last lap of the 800 metre final race live I did immediately notice that she was a very different physique to the other athletes; see what you think...
I feel bad for her, she can't help her condition and she probably has been mocked all her life. At least she can be finally do something that she can be proud of.
ReplyDelete