800 meter gold medalist, Caster Semenya, received a heroes welcome in South Africa today, after dismantling the competition at the Winnie Mandela hugging Caster Semenya Semenya won by such a wide margin that when she crossed the finish line, it appeared as though she was running the race by herself, as the other athletes were barely in the frame. It was an outstanding performance. Because she won the race by the widest margin of any athlete at the games, she has been met with significant suspicion in the press, due to reports her gender is in question. The IAAF ordered full gender tests, after a preliminary test discovered the levels of testosterone in Semenya's system, is three times greater than the average woman (that's still ten times less than Madonna). The additional tests will determine if a genetic anomaly created the elevated |
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Caster Semenya Receives Hero's Welcome
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Usain Bolt Sets Another World Record
Jamaican sprinter, Usain Bolt, fresh off his record setting 100 meter run, set another record at the the World Athletics Championships in Berlin, Germany.
Bolt set a new record in the 200 meter final, winning the race in 9.19 seconds. The IAAF has been sure to emphasize, due to his incredible speed, Bolt has been rigorously tested for steroids, with all his tests coming back negative. His fellow sprinters also faced scrutiny and all their tests came back negative as well.
Well done to all who participated.
Bolt Crushes His Own 200-Meter Record
Published: August 20, 2009 - Usain Bolt clearly does not require the intensity of a close race to obliterate his own world records.
After being pushed close to the finish line in the 100 on Sunday by Tyson Gay as Bolt won in a record-setting 9.58 seconds, Bolt had to do the pushing himself in the final straightaway of the 200 on Thursday. Running alone — strikingly alone — in lane 5 in the final straightaway, he showed no interest in cruising to the finish. Instead, he sprinted through, and the result was a time of 19.19 seconds: 11-hundredths of a second faster than the world record he established a year ago at the Beijing Olympics.
It has been a remarkably productive, efficient performance for Usain Bolt at these world championships. He has raced two finals and broken two of his own world records, with the 4x100 relay still to come. And he has now matched his sprint double at last year’s Olympics with another, even faster double on the blue track here.
Bolt, who will turn 23 on Friday, arrived at the Olympic Stadium wearing a T-shirt that read “Ich Bin Ein Berlino,” a lighthearted take on the famous line from President John F. Kennedy’s speech here in 1963. Kennedy’s “Ich Bin Ein Berliner” (“I am a Berliner”) was a show of rhetorical support for West Berlin...
Caster Semenya's Gender Questioned
South African sprinter, Caster Semenya, is facing massive scrutiny after winning the 800 meter run, at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin, Germany.
Caster has been forced to take a gender test, administered by a team of doctors, due to her very muscular appearance, pectorals, 6-pack/8-pack stomach, a visible Adams apple and slight bulge at the genital area. In an ironic twist, the first five letters of her name spell the word "semen."
Clearly, she passed the steroids tests, otherwise she would not have been allowed to participate. However, officials seek to determine if she is a man or a woman with genetic male traits that give her an unfair advantage.
Some in South Africa believe statements about her have been xenophobic and racist, because she is not an American.
Respectfully, as a Jamaican black woman, when I first saw her photo, I immediately realized what the controversy was about, as she does exhibit masculine traits and she also has a male swagger.
That statement is not meant to be insulting, but truthful. Not to mention, it has been reported, that even in South Africa, her teacher, bathroom attendants and others, for years have thought she was a man.
It maybe due to a genetic occurrence that caused her to posses both male and female characteristics, which strenuous workouts to build strength and stamina, have accentuated. Pilates would counter that to reduce confusion.
People are also asking questions, because in the past, two European men, who were white (only mentioning that due to the racial claims with Semenya) posed as women and won gold medals that were later revoked.
Women are considered the weaker sex and it really is not very competitive overall, to have men sprinting against women. Therefore, it is a very delicate subject, but it must be addressed in the interest of fairness.
Regardless of the outcome of the gender tests, which are expected in a few weeks, Semenya is an extraordinary athlete, who put on a fine performance. Congrats on your win, as it was very impressive.
Semenya humiliated, says SA athletics chief
Thu Aug 20, 2009 4:56pm GMT - BERLIN (Reuters) - The gender controversy surrounding South Africa's teenage 800 metres world champion Caster Semenya has been humiliating for her, the country's athletics chief said on Thursday.
Semenya's rapid improvement over the past year, in which she has shaved more than eight seconds off her personal best in the two-lap race, prompted the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) to order a gender test.
"I will continue to defend the girl, I will continue to do anything, even if I am to be kicked out of Berlin, Germany, but I am not going to let that girl be humiliated in the manner that she was humiliated because she has not committed a crime whatsoever. Her crime was to be born the way she is born," said Athletics South Africa president Leonard Chuene.
"And now people are not happy, and on that basis she is isolated like a leper, like she has got a disease that will affect other people, and I don't think it's proper," he told Reuters Television.
Powerfully built but smooth running, the 18-year-old Semenya clocked one minute, 55.45 seconds for the year's fastest time and a personal best by more than a second to win gold in the 800 on Wednesday, hours after the IAAF said the procedure for gender testing had started...