South African runner, Caster Semenya, will be allowed to keep her gold medal from the 800 meter race she won last month at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin, Germany. Good for her.
A gender test was requested after initial tests caused alarm, due to the increased levels of testosterone in her system. If it is due to a genetic anomaly, she clearly did not cheat.
Semenya does have masculine features, but judging by pictures of her as a young girl, she has always been strapping and very toned.
Becoming an athlete at a young age served to bring out those features even more. Therefore, it does not appear she tried to cheat to win the race. She did also pass the steroids test.
Further investigation into her background revealed, she is a woman who has been scorned for most of her life, labeled too manly and for once, after causing her much heartbreak, it has worked in her favor.
Blacks from some parts of Africa tend to be more muscular and taller than other Africans. Even during the slave trade, slave masters noticed this fact (i.e. the Maroons in the Caribbean). Much like Vikings were often taller and more muscular than other Anglo-Saxons.
From clamour to glamour: Semenya sets the agenda of a real golden girl
September 9, 2009 - South Africa, has had a second significant victory after the IAAF confirmed yesterday that she would not be stripped of her gold medal whatever the results of her gender test.
Semenya, who won the title in Berlin last month, has also made a resounding statement about her femininity by posing for a glamour photoshoot in a glossy national magazine...
