Fair or unfair? That is the question.
In the coming days, be prepared for the name Caster Semenya to take over Rio Olympics coverage.
Semenya — a South African middle-distance runner representing her country in this week’s women’s 800 meters — is tipped to win the event, and possibly set a new world record, but controversy is brewing as a debate wages regarding her natural advantage over many of her competitors.
The 25-year-old Olympian has a medical condition known as Hyperandrogenism, which would lead several medical professionals to label her as intersex or a hermaphrodite.
The condition means she has no ovaries, but as it pertains to athletics, it most notably causes elevated levels of testosterone.
The South African competitor naturallyhas three times more testosterone than the average levels for adult women. Thus, she may have an advantage by way of increased muscle mass, energy, and athletic performance as a whole.
If and when the track and field star takes gold in the 800M finals on Saturday, August 20, we’ll be asked this: Should individuals with naturally high levels of testosterone — such as intersex athletes — be able to compete as women in the Olympics?
If this sounds familiar, it’s because we’ve been here before.
In 2011, the International Association for Athletics Federations issued regulations that female athletes with excessive testosterone take drugs to lower their levels to the appropriate female range following Semenya’s dominance at the 2009 World Championships.
For the 2012 London Summer Olympics, the competitor obliged to the new rule and struggled.
Thanks to a successful appeal by the Indian Government — also representing a female athlete who is intersex — the court suspended the IAAF rule in July 2015 citing insufficient evidence to link hyperandrogenism to improved performance.
Thus, the 2009 world champion — and other intersex competitors — are prepared to compete this week without having to lower their natural testosterone.
“It is not unreasonable to suggest that half of the eight-women 800m final in Rio might well be intersex,” says Joanna Harper, a medical physicist and a member of a panel that advises the International Olympic Committee on gender issues. “And it is not unlikely that ... intersex women will sweep the podium.”
As you can see, the success of these female competitors — on the global stage — could lead to major backlash — again.
Last month in Monaco, Semenya recorded her best time in the event, which may be foreshadowing of what’s to come this week. Her stance on the controversy is clear, stating, “God made me the way I am and I accept myself.”
As if we needed any more drama to surround the Olympics, it seems the Women’s 800M may bust open Pandora’s box.
Be prepared to spend the week pondering what is fair and what is unfair.
