Female South African Athlete Told To Take Gender Test

[Treffie]

New world 800m champion Caster Semenya has been asked to take a gender test, according to athletics' governing body.

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01465/caster-semenya_1465477c.jpg

http://media.charlotteobserver.com/smedia/2009/08/19/11/Germany_Athletics_Worlds.sff.embedded.prod_affilia te.138.jpg

The International Association of Athletics Federations says it demanded the test three weeks ago amid fears she should not be able to run as a woman.

IAAF spokesman Nick Davies said the "extremely complex, difficult" test results were not due for several weeks.

The South African athletics federation insists it is "completely sure" that Semenya, 18, is a female.

"We would not have entered her in the female competition if we had any doubts," said a statement.

Semenya won gold in impressive fashion on Wednesday, leaving her rivals trailing as she won in a time of one minute, 55.45 seconds.

Defending champion Janeth Jepkosgei was second, a massive 2.45 seconds adrift, with Britain's Jenny Meadows taking bronze.

Semenya did not attend a post-race news conference following her success, but IAAF secretary general Pierre Weiss did appear before the media.

"We know you want to talk to her, but she is young, she is inexperienced and she is not able to reply properly to all your questions," he said.

"I will answer for her. The decision not to put her up was taken by the IAAF and the South African federation.

"I repeat, she was not prepared for a situation like this."

Weiss insisted the IAAF had handled the situation as best as it could and defended the timing of the announcement to test Semenya.

"She was unknown three weeks ago," he said. "No one could have anticipated this. We are fast but we are not a lion."

He added: "If it is proved that she is not a female, she will be withdrawn and the medals revised. At the moment, the athlete must be given the benefit of the doubt."

Semenya burst on to the world stage when she ran 1.56.72 in Bambous last month, smashing her previous personal best by more than seven seconds.

She also broke Zola Budd's long-standing South African record and arrived here as the newly-crowned African junior champion.

If it's a natural thing and the athlete has always thought she's a woman or been a woman, it's not exactly cheating

IAAF spokesman Nick Davies
"In the case of this athlete, following her breakthrough in the African junior championships, the rumours, the gossip was starting to build up," said Davies.

"The gender verification test is an extremely complex procedure. The situation today is that we do not have any conclusive evidence that she should not be allowed to run."

A group of doctors, including an endocrinologist, a gynaecologist, an internal medicine expert, an expert on gender and a psychologist, have started the testing procedure but it is uncertain when the results will be known.

Weiss said testing was being done in Berlin and South Africa but admitted it was a complex issue.

"At this stage, it's confusing," he said. "Personally I have no clue what's going on. I rely on and trust our doctors. We would have preferred not to have had a controversy."

After the race, Meadows said: "It's up to the IAAF to sort it out. You can't do anything about who is out there.

"There's just eight people on the track and you just have to make sure you're in the first three to get a medal."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/athletics/8210471.stm

[Loki]

OMG, that doesn't look like a female! :eek: Not even a she-male. :coffee:

[Vulpix]

That'd be ridiculously masculine even for a negro female :tongue...

[Jarl]

Yeah... and that name... "Semenya", hmmmm :mmmm:

[Treffie]

Yeah... and that name... "Semenya", hmmmm :mmmm:

Oh yes, I didn't even notice that :rolleyes:

[Vargtand]

OMG, that doesn't look like a female! :eek: Not even a she-male. :coffee:

haha hell I've even seen more female looking transvestites... but moving along. she could be a freak of nature and have ridiculously high amounts of testosterone for a woman.

[Angharad]

She doesn't look female, but she could just have a manly face. Take a look at the bodies of her competitors, some of them look masculine too.

http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/uploads/running.jpg

I would suspect doping with testosterone before thinking she was male. I guess the medical test results will clear the issue up though.

[Jarl]

Take a look at the bodies of her competitors, some of them look masculine too.

http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/uploads/running.jpg

Wow! A scary bunch! Too many 6-packs :P

[Spaniard_Truth]

Sometime it's hard to tell. Some more black women:

http://www.kalamu.com/bol/wp-content/content/images/grace%20jones%2015.jpg

http://styletips101.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/eve1.jpg

http://www.50centfanforum.com/gallery/50Cent12.jpg

[Treffie]

Does anyone remember 80's Czech sprinter, Jarmila Kratochvilova? There was speculation about her also.

http://nd.blog.cz/o/ondrej-klicka.blog.cz/obrazky/31881006.jpg


Slight change of direction but East German athlete, Heidi Krieger was fed so many steroids during her career that she had to have a sex change. Bizarre :eek:

http://www.singaporeathletics.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/heidi-krieger.jpg

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/08/11/sexchange.athlete/index.html

[Loki]

http://www.50centfanforum.com/gallery/50Cent12.jpg

50 cent is a male. Isn't he? :eek:

[Skandi]

she would struggle with children, no hips!

[Liffrea]

Here's another fine looking women:

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll54/Liffrea66/michael-jackson.jpg

[Allenson]

Hmmm, those are awfully tight pants and no package visible. It's a woman, sort of, just loaded up with testosterone.

Yuck.

[Æmeric]

This will sound sexist of me (:tongue) but it really isn't good for females to train as hard physically as males. It disrupts their natural hormonal balance. This female has become a sexless eunuch.

[Frigga]

Well, my personal opinion is that it's a man. There is no way that someone with those hips could have been born female in my mind. Now, I have heard of cases with a botched circumcision that has resulted in a mandatory sex change for the infant. But, I wasn't aware that circumcision was a widely used practice in South Africa.

Also, the shape of the shoulders in relation to the hips is very masculine.

[Loki]

But, I wasn't aware that circumcision was a widely used practice in South Africa.


Among certain black tribes, it is:



One traditional ritual that is still regularly practiced is the manhood ritual, a secret rite that marks the transition from boyhood to adulthood (Ulwaluko). After ritual circumcision the initiates (abakwetha) live in isolation for up to several weeks, often in the mountains. During the process of healing they smear white clay on their bodies and observe numerous taboos.

In modern times the practice has caused controversy, with over 300 circumcision- and initiation-related deaths since 1994, and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases including HIV via the practice of circumcising initiates with the same blade.

source (http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Xhosa)


White South Africans do not usually practice circumcision, unless they're Jewish.

[Barreldriver]

OMG, that doesn't look like a female! :eek: Not even a she-male. :coffee:

She/He has man pecks lol, no boobs whatsoever, clearly a man's upper body. looooooooooool

[Loki]

I think this should cement the fact that there's more to manliness than just a penis. :coffee:

[Lahtari]

Well, my personal opinion is that it's a man. There is no way that someone with those hips could have been born female in my mind.
...
Also, the shape of the shoulders in relation to the hips is very masculine.

Another most visible signs of male physique are the size of hands and a longer forearm. It's hard to tell since there's individual variation, but at least in some pictures "she" looks highly suspicious:

http://www4.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/12th+IAAF+World+Athletics+Championships+Day+oZs63W qRHQNl.jpg

[Æmeric]

I think this should cement the fact that there's more to manliness than just a penis. :coffee:Absolutely.



http://gallery.hobostuff.com/d/1688-2/internet-soldier.jpg

[Loki]

SA fury over athlete gender test (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8211319.stm)

New 800m world champion Caster Semenya has been "humiliated" after being asked to take a gender test, says the head of South Africa's athletics body.

Leonard Chuene also said she had been treated like a "leper".

South Africa's ruling African National Congress earlier urged the country to rally round "our golden girl".

Her family has also insisted she is female. "I know she's a woman — I raised her myself," the 18-year-old's grandmother said.

Her mother Dorcus Semenya told the Star newspaper that doubts about her daughter's gender were motivated by "jealousy".

"If you go at my home village and ask any of my neighbours, they would tell you that Mokgadi [Caster Semenya] is a girl," she said.

"They know because they helped raise her. People can say whatever they like but the truth will remain, which is that my child is a girl. I am not concerned about such things."

'Masculine build'

"I will continue to defend the girl," Mr Chuene, head of Athletics South Africa, told Reuters news agency.

"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."

In a statement, the African National Congress (ANC) condemned the speculation surrounding Ms Semenya, who won gold at the Athletics World Championships in Berlin on Wednesday, leaving her rivals trailing.

"Such comments can only serve to portray women as being weak," the ANC said.

"Caster is not the only woman athlete with a masculine build and the International Association of Athletics Federation should know better," the statement said.

In an interview with South Africa's Times newspaper, her 80-year-old grandmother Maphuthi Sekgala said Ms Semenya had been teased when younger for her boyish looks.

She was also the only girl in the football team in Fairlie, a village in South Africa's northern Limpopo Province.

"If the teasing hurt her, she kept the hurt to herself and didn't show what she was feeling," she said.

[Atlas]

Here's another fine looking women:

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll54/Liffrea66/michael-jackson.jpg

Please respect the dead white, err back err grey man. ;)

[Barreldriver]

Absolutely.



http://gallery.hobostuff.com/d/1688-2/internet-soldier.jpg


^If only that were the real version of that gun and not a toy. :P

[Allenson]

Yeah, maybe he/she is some sort of hermaphrodite?

Regardless, this is a very strange story.

I wonder what her Y-chromosome haplotype is...? ;)

[Lahtari]

Yeah, maybe he/she is some sort of hermaphrodite?

Maybe, like having a testicle inside her body producing testosterone, or something? Doesn't sound that far-fetched - accidents happen in nature.

[Frigga]

I just remembered something. There is a phenomenon that I believe is called a super female. They have three chromosomes: XXY. My mom told me about them once. If I am remembering correctly, they are not allowed to compete against other women. Maybe that is the case with this person. :shrug:

[Skandi]

yes you can also get yyx they are generally super aggressive men. lso YYXX now I look into it. A whole host of fun!

[Barreldriver]

yes you can also get yyx they are generally super aggressive men.

That sounds awesome, but I wonder if there's any unwanted side effects. :P

[Tabiti]

Female athletes often take testosterone, which could develop male characteristics.
XXY syndrome (Klinefelter's syndrome) is for males, not females.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klinefelter%27s_syndrome
click only on own risk:
http://catalog.nucleusinc.com/enlargeexhibit.php?ID=10388
Anyway, I heard XXX are the Super females, but they appear to be quite infantile physically and mentally.

[Útrám]

Where is the gender-confused Olympics when you need it?

[Loki]

The Young Communist League of South Africa said the IAAF's actions were racially motivated.

"This smacks of racism of the highest order," the party said.

"It represents a mentality of conforming feminine outlook within the white race, and that as long as it does not fall within this race or starve and paint itself in order to look like the white race it therefore is not feminine."



http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8212835.stm

[Treffie]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8212835.stm

D'oh!

[Amarantine]

Olimpic games are not any more as what were before! It sadistic, cruel, "over human limits" freaky games! Any sport today is so unhuman.

[Tabiti]

Olimpic games are not any more as what were before! It sadistic, cruel, "over human limits" freaky games! Any sport today is so unhuman.
Olympic games are competition of chemicals now. Who took the best ones without being caught is the golden medalist!

[Vulpix]

Woman, man or a little bit of both? How deciding Caster Semenya's gender is more complex than you might think (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1208012/Woman-man-little-bit-How-deciding-Caster-Semenyas-gender-complex-think.html)


http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/08/21/article-1208012-061F1698000005DC-881_468x545.jpg

[Amarantine]

couches create a mutant

poor she

[Barreldriver]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8212835.stm

Some of the rubbish that comes out these days sickens me, so now it's racist to point out a hermaphrodite that just happened to be black. Christ on a cracker.

[Inese]

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/08/21/article-1208012-061F1698000005DC-881_468x545.jpg






Oh now ---- Usher the RnB " star " is now a runner!! :coffee: The face is near the same and the same stupid smiling!! O,o

http://www.upscaleswagger.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/usher.jpg

[lei.talk]

This will sound sexist of me (:tongue), but,
it really isn't good for females to train as hard physically as males:

it disrupts their natural hormonal balance.
this topic is of interest
to dozens of my friends and my self,
any suggested reading?
*

[Skandi]

I know it delays puberty in gymnasts, might be able to find something abut that.

[Æmeric]

It is known that women who have too much muscle mass & not enough bodyfat have disrupted menstrual cycles or stop having periods altogether. And their breasts flatten out. This occure even in females who are not taking steriods. And female athletes are more prone to osteoporosis. I can't think of any reading material on the subject at the moment but googling should show up several sources.




Fat

In many remote cultures, even today, fat is beautiful. In some societies women put on pounds in order to make themselves more attractive. They''''re happy to see excessive fat on their buttocks, a condition called steatopygia. Some tribes and villages reserve the best foods for girls who are approaching marrying age. The biggest in girth make the most desirable brides.

It was like that in primitive times, too. Back before farms and supermarkets, food was hunted and gathered, not raised. Famines were bad then and fat was good. Body fat kept our ancient ancestors alive--the equivalent of carrying their own personal grocery store.

Fat is the body''''s in-house hoard of food. It''''s pure stored energy. But most women deplore that extra bonus, especially when they''''re confronted in the media with supermodels Cindy, Christie and Kate. Seeing their clothes-hanger bodies promoted as "ideal," too often we succumb to the fashion world''''s very narrow definition of beauty.

"Living organisms have been around a lot longer than the fashion industry," says Phillip Sinaikin, M.D., author of Fat Madness and a psychiatrist in Longwood, Florida, who specializes in addiction and dieting. "Our bodies say that survival still outweighs looks. Biology is reality."

Fat-Fertile Fields

Compared with men, women bear an extra burden of body fat. On average we have about 8 percent more body fat than most men, which makes sense since we''''re designed to carry reserves for childbearing. So we pack an extra 120,000 calories--stored as fat--to see us through any situation.

There''''s a relationship between fat and hormones. A woman needs to tote at least 16 percent body fat to produce estrogen, the hormone that''''s essential for conception.

Continue reading: (http://www.mothernature.com/Library/Bookshelf/Books/32/32.cfm)


That pretty much says it. If a women doesn't produce estrogen she loses her female characteristics. But in order to compete athletically females have to reduce their bodyfat below 16% & the further below that level the more drastic the changes in their appearance.

On the other extreem, men who are overweight, especially obese, become effeminate. It's because of the estrogen. I know a few guys who lost a lot of weight & their voices got deeper.

[Vulpix]

Caster Semenya arrives home in South Africa to a heroine's welcome as three times the normal level of testosterone is found in her body
(http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1208887/Caster-Semenya-arrives-home-South-Africa-heroines-welcome-fans-descend-airport.html)

Her triumphant return home comes as preliminary medical tests on the 18-year-old South African have recorded elevated levels of the male hormone testosterone.

A source close to the runnerconfirmed that tests carried out before the start of the World Championships indicated she had three times the normal female level of testosterone in her body.

[Loki]

That's probably the result of steroids.

[Fortis in Arduis]

I think that she is an hermaphrodite and that her balls are somewhere upside her.

Also, I know of a female triathlete who trained so much that she had to have a hysterectomy.

*shocking*

[lei.talk]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-C10379%2C_Hermann_Ratjen_alias_%22Dora_Ratjen%22.j pg
Dora Ratjen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dora_Ratjen)

In the 1936 Olympic games in Berlin, Adolf Hitler wanted to show the world the supremacy of the Aryan race - and he needed German athletes to win. Ratjen, notable for her deep voice and her refusal to share the shower room with the other female athletes, was Germany's entry for the women's high jump. She came fourth. Britain's competitor, Dorothy Tyler, who won a silver medal, remembers her. "I had competed against Dora and I knew she was a man," she says. "You could tell by the voice and the build. But 'she' was far from the only athlete. You could tell because they would always go into the toilet to get changed. We'd go and stand on the seat of the next-door cubicle or look under the door to see if we could catch them." Tyler held the world record for the high jump, but when officials wrote to her telling her that Ratjen had broken it, she wrote back. "I said: 'She's not a woman, she's a man,'" she says. "They did some research and found 'her' serving as a waiter called Hermann, so I got my world record back again." Dora, who had been born Hermann Ratjen, had in fact been a member of the Hitler Youth and said that the Nazis had forced him to enter as a woman.

guardian.co.uk (http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/jul/30/olympicgames2008.gender)
*

[lei.talk]

Originally Posted by Anglo-Hoosier http://www.theapricity.com/forum/images/jagohan/buttons/viewpost.gif (http://www.theapricity.com/forum/showthread.php?p=85346#post85346)
It is known that women who have too much muscle mass & not enough bodyfat have disrupted menstrual cycles or stop having periods altogether. And their breasts flatten out. This occurs even in females who are not taking steriods. And female athletes are more prone to osteoporosis.

Originally Posted by the Durham Devil's Advocate http://www.theapricity.com/forum/images/buttons/viewpost.gif (http://www.theapricity.com/forum/showthread.php?p=85251#post85251)
I know it delays puberty in gymnasts...as will rogers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Rogers) opined:
"The problem in America isn't so much what people don't know;
the problem is what people think they know
that just ain't so."

delayed puberty and inadequate hormone-production
in male and female athletes
are a result of an insufficiency of nutriments
(specifically: saturated fats and proteins of high biological-value)
not low body-fat levels
or exercise-stress.

“There’s no such thing as overtraining,
only undereating and undersleeping for your level of training.”
Exercise amenorrhoea (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amenorrea#Exercise_amenorrhoea)
Female athletes or women who perform considerable amounts of exercise on a regular basis are at risk of developing 'athletic' amenorrhoea. It was thought for many years that low body fat levels and exercise related chemicals (such as beta endorphins and catecholamines) disrupt the interplay of the sex hormones estrogen and progesterone. However recent studies have shown that there are no differences in the body composition, or hormonal levels in amenorrheic athletes. Instead, amenorrhea has been shown to be directly attributable to a low energy availability. Many women who exercise at a high level do not take in enough calories to expend on their exercise as well as to maintain their normal menstrual cycles.

A second serious risk factor of amenorrhea is severe bone loss sometimes resulting in osteopenia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osteopenia) and osteoporosis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osteoporosis). It is the third component of an increasingly common disease known as female athlete triad (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_athlete_triad) syndrome. The other two components of this syndrome are osteoporosis and disordered eating (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disordered_eating). Awareness and intervention can usually prevent this occurrence in most female athletes.
*

[Skandi]

[/COLOR]The problem in America isn't so much what people don't know;
the problem is what people think they know
that just ain't so.[COLOR="royalblue"][SIZE="4"][FONT="Arial"]"


Fortunately I'm not American. I never mentioned body fat once just over training. However:


Fifteen Greek rhythmic gymnasts (mean aged 14.5 years) and 30 Canadian counterparts (mean age 14.7 years) were surveyed for age at menarche (onset of menstruation), menstrual frequency and training profile and measured for height, weight and percentage body fat. They were compared across all these measures with a control group of 78 healthy Greek and Canadian non-athletes of the same age.

The differences observed were startling: whereas all girls from both control groups had achieved regular menstruation at the time of the study and none reported any menstrual irregularities, 79% of the Greek gymnasts and 34% of Canadian gymnasts had not yet menstruated. Those who were menstruating had started significantly later than the controls (13.8 compared with 12.5 years) and as many as 78% reported menstrual irregularities.

Menarcheal gymnasts were found to be significantly taller and heavier, with a higher percentage body fat and a lower training frequency and training duration than their pre-menarcheal counterparts.
more (http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/gymnasts-menstruation.html)

Only a small study but seems to indicate that there in lies the problem.

[Æmeric]

delayed puberty and inadequate hormone-production
in male and female athletes
are a result of an insufficiency of nutriments
(specifically: saturated fats and proteins of high biological-value)
not low body-fat levels
or exercise-stress.

“Couldn't low body-fat levels be the result of an insufficiency of nutriments?:icon1:



There’s no such thing as overtraining,
only undereating and undersleeping for your level of training.

So athletes need to eat more & put on more body-fat?:confused:

My point was that competitive female athletes in certain sports (not tennis) lose their femininity. Body-fat does store estrogen & when women lose that fat (and estrogen) they lose their femininity. I think the study is skewed to applease a certain segment of the populace that likes to ignore the biological differences between the sexes.

[Frigga]

I think that the delayed menarche is probably spurred by insufficient nutrients. For many decades now, Western culture has been brainwashed into thinking that saturated fats and cholesterol are poisonous to our bodies and that we shouldn't eat them for fear of clogging our arteries. But cholesterol is absolutely essential for the production of almost every hormone in the body, especially estrogen and testosterone. Athletes are probably not eating enough animal fats in their diets as they are more likely to want to have the lowest body fat content they can have. So these gymnasts are probably taking in even less good nutrition. Hence the delayed menarche.

There was a study done in the United Kingdom on infertile women. I think that almost all of them had been drinking non fat dairy. In the study, they started drinking whole milk, and they got pregnant. We as humans need these life giving substances.

[Æmeric]

There were few systematic studies of timing of menarche before the latter half of the 20th century. Most older estimates of average timing of menarche were based on observation of a small homogeneous population not necessarily representative of the larger population, or based on recall by adult women, which is also susceptible to various forms of error. Most sources agree that the average age of menarche in girls in modern societies has declined, though the reasons and the degree remain subjects of controversy. There have been claims of a 2- to 2.5-year decline from about 1900 to the 1960s, but the best North American surveys reported only a 2-3 month decline from the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s. This is commonly attributed to larger body size and earlier average attainment of sufficient body fat, but other factors such as environmental exposure to chemicals that mimic oestrogen or the urbanization and sexualization of Western society have also been considered as contributing factors.

Less than 10% of U.S. girls start to menstruate before 11 years of age, and 90% of all US girls are menstruating by 13.75 years of age, with a median age of 12.43 years. This age at menarche is not significantly different (0.34 years earlier) than that reported for U.S. girls in 1973. Age at menarche for non-Hispanic black girls was significantly earlier than that of white girls at 10%, 25%, and 50% of those who had attained menarche, whereas Mexican American girls were only significantly earlier than the white girls at 25%.

Source (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menarche#Changes_over_time_in_the_average_age_of_m enarche)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12509562

There is disagree at the average ages that menarche occured before the 70s because of a lack of data. Though it does seem puberty is starting earlier for both males & females but by how much is the question.

[Bari]

New world 800m champion Caster Semenya has been asked to take a gender test, according to athletics' governing body.

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01465/caster-semenya_1465477c.jpg

http://media.charlotteobserver.com/smedia/2009/08/19/11/Germany_Athletics_Worlds.sff.embedded.prod_affilia te.138.jpg


- Really disturbing.

[Fortis in Arduis]

I think that she is an hermaphrodite and that her balls are somewhere upside her.

Also, I know of a female triathlete who trained so much that she had to have a hysterectomy.

*shocking*

I toldja:


The world of athletics is reeling today after a claim that South African champion runner Caster Semenya is a hermaphrodite with no womb or ovaries.

A Sydney newspaper claims it has a world exclusive in revealing the very private information about the sex of the 18-year-old runner.

Quoting a source closely involved with the IAAF, the Sydney Daily Telegraph said Semenya had internal testes - male sexual organs which produce testosterone and which in turn produces muscle bulk, body hair and a deep voice.

Shock claims: Caster Semenya celebrates her 800m victory in Berlin last month amid an international row over whether she is a man or a woman

Now, the paper said, the International Association of Athletics Federations is expected to disqualify Semenya from future events and advise an operation because the condition carries grave health risks.

The IAAF received Semenya's gender test results today. However athletics chiefs said they would not be revealed for up to two weeks - once they had had a chance to speak with Semenya.

IAAF spokesman Nick Davies said the results would only be made public once other experts had studied them and the 800m World Champion herself had been contacted personally.
Mr Davies said: 'We have the final results from the specialist tests carried out in Germany.
Enlarge

'It's a joke': Caster posed for a glamorous photo-shoot in a South African magazine this week
'These now need to be interpreted by a panel of experts drawn from the IAAF Medical Commission and some outside specialists as well.

'It is likely that we will be in a position to then discuss the results, in private, with Semenya, and decide on the course of action and any public announcement.

'Nothing will therefore be announced or confirmed until we are in a position to have the expert evaluation of the results, and discuss them with the athlete.

'We cannot give an exact timing but probably within the next couple of weeks.'
However the Sydney Daily Telegraph claimed the results had been leaked by a source.
Referring to Semenya as a 'she', the paper said she has three times more testosterone than a normal female.

The gender-test results could see her stripped of the gold medal she won last month in Berlin.
Quoting a source closely involved with the IAAF, the paper said Semenya had internal testes - male sexual organs which produce testosterone and which in turn produces muscle bulk, body hair and a deep voice.

Semenya, said the paper, is so far unaware of the tests identifying her as a hermaphrodite.
South Africa has strongly defended the runner amid claims by doubters that she won her medal unfairly because she was really a man.

The population has rallied behind 'Our Girl', hitting back at the accusations with further allegations of racism.

South Africans have been so protective of her that Mr Butana Komphela, an African National Congress MP, has lodged a complaint with the UN High Commission on Human Rights.

He has accused the IAAF of racism and sexism.

But today the Sydney Daily Telegraph is quoting an anonymous source as saying that while there is 'certainly' evidence that Semenya is a hermaphrodite, the IAAF now has the whole of the African National Congress - and in fact the whole of South Africa - on their backs.

The source was quoted as saying: 'There's all sorts of scans you do.
'This is why it's complicated. In the past you used to do a gynaecological exam, blood test, chromosome test, whatever. That's why (the findings) were challenged, because it's not quite so simple.

'So what they do now is they do everything, and then they can say look, not only has she got this, she's got that and the other.

'The problem for us is to avoid it being an issue now which is very personal - of the organs being a hermaphrodite, of not being a "real" woman. It's very dramatic.'
It will not be until
next week that the IAAF is expected to receive full details of the tests on Semenya.
Last week, when questioned about the controversy by the South African magazine YOU, Semenya said: 'I see it all as a joke. It doesn't upset me.

'God made me the way I am and I accept myself. I am who I am and I'm proud of myself. I don.t want to talk about the tests. I'm not even thinking about them.'


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1212562/Gender-row-runner-Caster-Semenya-hermaphrodite.html

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/09/10/article-1212562-06563388000005DC-809_233x314_popup.jpg

DRAG QUEEN :D

[Æmeric]

THE world champion 800m runner Caster Semenya has been revealed to have male and female sexual organs, posing an ethical and political quandary for the sport's ruling body, the International Association of Athletics Federations, and her home nation, South Africa.

Extensive physical examinations of Semenya, who is just 18 and from a remote village in the country's far north, has shown the athlete is technically a hermaphrodite. Medical reports indicate she has no ovaries, but rather has internal male testes, which are producing large amounts of testosterone.

The presence of both male and female characteristics will come as a devastating blow to Semenya, who has fought off snide remarks about her masculine appearance for much of her life.

Late last night the IAAF was trying to contact the athlete to inform her of the results. After her domination of the world titles in Berlin last month, Semenya was given exhaustive blood and chromosome tests as well as a gynaecological examination.

It is believed the IAAF was hoping to consider the ramifications of the results before publishing details.

One possibility would be to allow Semenya to retain her gold medal, but award a second gold to the runner-up, Janeth Jepkosgei from Kenya.

"This is a medical issue and not a doping issue where she was deliberately cheating," an IAAF spokesman, Nick Davies, told the Herald.

"These tests do not suggest any suspicion of deliberate misconduct but seek to assess the possibility of a potential medical condition which would give Semenya an unfair advantage over her competitors. There is no automatic disqualification of results in a case like this."

Earlier the IAAF said it was likely that Semenya would keep her medal because the case was not related to a drug matter.

Following her stunning victory, Semenya was embroiled in controversy, but returned to South Africa as a hero. South Africans condemned the scrutiny of Semenya and an African National Congress politician has filed an official complaint with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The president of Athletics South Africa, Leonard Chuene, said he was unaware the tests had been completed.

Source (http://www.smh.com.au/news/sport/secret-of-semenyas-sex-stripped-bare/2009/09/11/1252519599453.html)

[Vulpix]

South Africa threatens 'Third World War' after gender-row runner Caster Semenya is branded hermaphrodite (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1212869/Third-World-War-threat-gender-row-runner-Caster-Semenya.html)

[Jimbo Gomez]

I thought she was a woman who had destroyed her body with excessive testosterone doping. Turns out it's a natural condition after all. Poor man/woman/whatever it is

[Absinthe]

She's a hermaphrodite...what a surprise. I bet that she wasn't even aware of that...and it must be shocking to learn in that age :eek:

[Loddfafner]

I am reminded of an exchange on that random conversation website:

Stranger: Are you a man or a woman?
Me: No.

[Skandi]

I have to say that I feel very sorry for her, it isn't her fault and there is no way she could have known, but shouldn't her trainers have picked up that she was too good? The worst bit for her is not, not being able to compete but all the other ramifications, such as children and social place.

[lei.talk]

as will rogers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Rogers) opined:
"The problem in America isn't so much what people don't know;
the problem is what people think they know
that just ain't so."

delayed puberty and inadequate hormone-production
in male and female athletes
are a result of an insufficiency of nutriments
(specifically: saturated fats and proteins of high biological-value)
not low body-fat levels
or exercise-stress.

“There’s no such thing as overtraining,
only undereating and undersleeping for your level of training.”
Exercise amenorrhoea (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amenorrea#Exercise_amenorrhoea)
Female athletes or women who perform considerable amounts of exercise on a regular basis are at risk of developing 'athletic' amenorrhoea. It was thought for many years that low body fat levels and exercise related chemicals (such as beta endorphins and catecholamines) disrupt the interplay of the sex hormones estrogen and progesterone. However recent studies have shown that there are no differences in the body composition, or hormonal levels in amenorrheic athletes. Instead, amenorrhea has been shown to be directly attributable to a low energy availability. Many women who exercise at a high level do not take in enough calories to expend on their exercise as well as to maintain their normal menstrual cycles.

A second serious risk factor of amenorrhea is severe bone loss sometimes resulting in osteopenia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osteopenia) and osteoporosis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osteoporosis). It is the third component of an increasingly common disease known as female athlete triad (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_athlete_triad) syndrome. The other two components of this syndrome are osteoporosis and disordered eating (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disordered_eating). Awareness and intervention can usually prevent this occurrence in most female athletes.which evoked two questions:
Couldn't low body-fat levels be the result of an insufficiency of nutriments? :icon1:

So athletes need to eat more & put on more body-fat? :confused:eating more
does not necessarily mean becoming fatter.

is this clarifying?
Originally Posted by lei.talk http://www.theapricity.com/forum/images/kiddo/buttons/viewpost.gif (http://forum.lef.org//default.aspx?f=39&m=23534&p=1#m23550)
when you say cause weight gain,
do you mean lipogenesis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipogenesis) (to make new fat)?

if so, the simple bio-chemical truth is
- your body can only do that
with carbohydrates that you have ingested.

Do you think a calorie is a calorie?
regardless of the food-source of the calorie?
there is an easy test for this
and it has been done many times.

first, consume an extra five-hundred calories per day
of soft-boiled eggs (seven), for one month.
then, look at your naked body in the mirror.
are you fatter? no!

now, consume an extra five-hundred calories per day
of orange juice (four cups), for one month.
then, look at your naked body in the mirror.
are you fatter? yes!

...they are just calorie restriction diets in disguise.
Do you think its true?
no, they are carbohydrate-restriction diets.
*