Ahletics SA president Leonard Chuene on Friday refused to accept any blame by his federation for the Caster Semenya gender controversy, accusing racist South Africans of creating the fiasco.
Semenya stunned the world in July when she won the African junior 800m title in 1min56.72 but when she arrived in Berlin last week at the World Athletics Championships, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) requested tests be done to determine the teenager's gender.
The test results would not be available for at least another few weeks but in the meantime Semenya went on to win the two-lap final in a magnificent 1min55.45 on Wednesday night.
Continues Below ↓
Chuene, however, said ASA had never had reason to suspect her gender despite the athlete's muscular physique, facial hair and deep voice.
There is no doubt that Semenya believes she is female Semenya's father and coach have both assured in media reports that Semenya was indeed born a girl but it is far more complicated than a simple glance at her genitals at birth.
There is no doubt that Semenya believes she is female and was raised as a girl.
But, if she was born with both male and female chromosomes, the IAAF must then decide - after numerous tests in a complicated procedure - whether Semenya can run against women.
If the test results prove she is indeed entirely female, then case closed. Sort of.
Following the media frenzy that has broken out around the world, even if the test results return in Semenya's favour, she faces possible doubters throughout her career.
'Parents don't take a child for tests to find out if it is a boy or a girl, they simply look' And Chuene denied that ASA could have put out fires before they started if they had tested Semenya before she rose to the highest stage of international athletics.
"The responsibility of the federation (ASA) is to train children and take them to the championships," Chuene said. "When a child is born, the parents don't take them for tests to find out if it is a boy or a girl, they simply look.
Continues...
|
StumbleUpon
Reddit
Digg
Delicious
Newsvine
Facebook
muti
Twitter
