WOMAN OR NO WOMAN...

The South African track and field authorities have got one of the strangest requests that occurred once in a blue moon in the athletic world on their hands, and that was to conduct a verification test on one of their athletes to prove his or her gender. Whether a he or a she? that was the question.

The request came from the International Federation of Sports, in regard to Caster Semenya winning the gold medal in the final of the Women's 800 meters in Berlin, yesterday. According to reports, she had won the event in a record time, breaking it (record) by 2.45 seconds. She had done so before "by posting a world-leading time of 1: 56. 72 at the African junior championships in Maruitius"; and her accomplishment in Berlin was no ruse. However, her stature and physique did not naturally grant her the privilege of being a female. What?

The report did not say how long she had been on the South African team, or whether anyone in a managerial position, the officiating personnel, personally knew her. How about her own team mates; did any of them know Caster? If so, did they have a shower or a bath in the same facility at the same time before? Or would not the parents have known?.....There were speculations, here and there, of her being a woman or a man, but they were brushed aside sometimes, and she went on to participate in athletic meetings.

The questions kept pouring out to no end; and she herself had not had any questions directly put to her during the interviews she had had with numerous sports reporters and correspondents, with respect to her sex. Strange; was it not?

Now, there was another contest just ahead, and the gender test that took several weeks could not be completed in time. It was extremely complex, and it involved so many experts, from a gynecologist, endocrinologist, psychologist, internal medicine specialist to a gender expert.

"We entered Caster as a woman and we want to keep it that way", said team manager Mlangeni-Tsholetsane. "Our conscience is clear in terms of Caster. We have no reservations at all about that". she continued.

The story of Caster Semenya, however, also continues......