Caster Semenya
Encyclopedia
Mokgadi Caster Semenya is a South Africa
n middle-distance runner and world champion. Semenya won gold in the women's 800 metres
at the 2009 World Championships
with a time of 1:55.45 in the final.
Following her victory at the 2009 World Championships, it was announced that she had been subjected to "gender testing". She was withdrawn from international competition until 6 July 2010 when the IAAF cleared her to return to competition. In 2010, the British magazine New Statesman
included Semenya in a list of "50 People That Matter 2010".
Semenya returned to the 2011 World Championships
where she achieved the silver medal in the 800 metres.
near Pietersburg
(now Polokwane), and grew up in the village of Fairlie, "deep in South Africa's northern Limpopo
province."She has three sisters and a brother, and is said to have been a tomboy
as a child.
Semenya attended Nthema Secondary School and now attends the University of Pretoria
as a sports science
student. She began running as training for soccer.
, and won the gold in the 800 m at the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games
with a time of 2:04.23.
Semenya won both the 800 m and 1500 m races with the times of 1:56.72 and 4:08.01 respectively. With that race she improved her 800 m personal best by seven seconds in less than nine months, including four seconds in that race alone. The 800 m time was the world leading time in 2009 at that date. It was also a national record and a championship record. Semenya simultaneously beat the Senior and Junior South African records held by Zelda Pretorius at 1:58.85, and Zola Budd
at 2:00.90, respectively.
The International Association of Athletics Federations
(IAAF) says it was "obliged to investigate" after she made improvements of 25 seconds at 1500 m and eight seconds at 800 m – "the sort of dramatic breakthroughs that usually arouse suspicion of drug use." The IAAF also asked Semenya to undergo a gender test after the win.The IAAF ceased compulsory tests in 1992 but retains the right to test athletes. Scant support for sex test on champion athlete New Scientist Gender verification was dropped from Olympic sports in 1999 as the issue was delicate and scientifically complicated. The verification involves "an endocrinologist, a gynaecologist, an internal medicine
expert, an expert on gender and a psychologist" and takes several weeks. This is not the first time the IAAF has asked for gender verification although generally the athletes maintain their privacy. "Caster Semenya faces sex test before she can claim victory" The Times, 19 August 2009 News that the IAAF requested the test broke three hours before the 2009 World Championships 800 m final. IAAF president Lamine Diack
stated, "There was a leak of confidentiality at some point and this led to some insensitive reactions."
In August Semenya won gold in the 800 metres
at the World Championships
with a time of 1:55.45 in the final, again setting the fastest time of the year.
The IAAF's handling of the case spurred many negative reactions. A number of athletes, including retired sprinter Michael Johnson
, criticized the organization for its response to the incident. Prominent South African civic leaders, commentators, politicians, and activists characterized the controversy as racist
, as well as an affront to Semenya's privacy and human rights. The IAAF said it only made the test public after it had already been reported in the media, denying charges of racism and expressing regret about "the allegations being made about the reasons for which these tests are being conducted." The federation also explained that the motivation for the test was not suspected cheating but a desire to determine whether she had a "rare medical condition" giving her an unfair competitive advantage. The president of the IAAF stated that the case could have been handled with more sensitivity. In an interview with South African magazine YOU
Semenya stated, "God made me the way I am and I accept myself." She also took part in a makeover
with the magazine.
On 7 September 2009, Wilfred Daniels, Semenya's coach with Athletics South Africa (ASA), resigned because he felt that ASA "did not advise Ms. Semenya properly". He apologized for personally having failed to protect her. Athletics South Africa President Leonard Chuene admitted on 19 September 2009 to having subjected Semenya to gender tests. He had previously lied to Semenya about the purpose of the tests and to others about having performed the tests. He ignored a request from ASA team doctor Harold Adams to withdraw Semenya from the world championships over concerns about the need to keep her medical records confidential. On the recommendation of South Africa's Minister for Sport and Recreation, Makhenkesi Stofile, Semenya retained the legal firm Dewey & LeBoeuf
who are acting pro bono "to make certain that her civil and legal rights and dignity as a person are fully protected." Following the furore over her gender, Semenya received great support within South Africa, to the extent of being called a cause celebre
.
In November 2009 South Africa's sports ministry issued a statement that Semenya had reached an agreement with the IAAF to keep her medal and the prize money. The ministry did not say if she would be allowed to compete as a woman but they did note that the IAAF's threshold for when a female is considered ineligible to compete as a woman is unclear.
In December 2009 Track and Field News voted Semenya the Number One Women's 800 metre runner of the year.
On 6 July, the IAAF cleared Semenya to return to international competition. The results of the gender tests, however, will not be released for privacy reasons. She returned to competition nine days later winning two minor races in Finland
. On August 22, 2010, running on the same track
as her World Championship victory, Semenya started slowly but finished strongly, dipping under 2:00 for the first time since the controversy, while winning the ISTAF meet in Berlin.
Not being on full form, she did not enter the World Junior Championships
or the African Championships
, both held in July 2010, and opted to target the Commonwealth Games
to be held in October 2010. She improved her season's best to 1:58.16 at the Notturna di Milano
meeting in early September and returned to South Africa to prepare for the Commonwealth Games. Eventually, she was forced to skip the games due to injury.
In September, the British magazine New Statesman
included Semenya in its annual list of "50 People That Matter" for unintentionally instigating "an international and often ill-tempered debate on gender politics, feminism and race, becoming an inspiration to gender campaigners around the world."
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
n middle-distance runner and world champion. Semenya won gold in the women's 800 metres
800 metres
The 800 meter race is a common track running event. It is the shortest common middle distance track event. The 800 meter is run over two laps of the track and has always been an Olympic event. During indoor track season the event is usually run on a 200 meter track, therefore requiring four laps...
at the 2009 World Championships
2009 World Championships in Athletics
The 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics were held in Berlin, Germany from 15–23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenburg Gate....
with a time of 1:55.45 in the final.
Following her victory at the 2009 World Championships, it was announced that she had been subjected to "gender testing". She was withdrawn from international competition until 6 July 2010 when the IAAF cleared her to return to competition. In 2010, the British magazine New Statesman
New Statesman
New Statesman is a British centre-left political and cultural magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s....
included Semenya in a list of "50 People That Matter 2010".
Semenya returned to the 2011 World Championships
2011 World Championships in Athletics
The 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics was an international athletics competition that was held in Daegu, South Korea. It started on 27 August 2011 and finished on 4 September 2011....
where she achieved the silver medal in the 800 metres.
Early life and education
Semenya was born in Ga-Masehlong, a village in South AfricaSouth Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
near Pietersburg
Polokwane
Polokwane, meaning "Place of Safety",is a city in the Polokwane Local Municipality and the capital of the Limpopo province, South Africa. It is also often referred to by its former name, Pietersburg. Polokwane is a major urban centre, the biggest and most important north of Gauteng. The population...
(now Polokwane), and grew up in the village of Fairlie, "deep in South Africa's northern Limpopo
Limpopo
Limpopo is the northernmost province of South Africa. The capital is Polokwane, formerly named Pietersburg. The province was formed from the northern region of Transvaal Province in 1994, and initially named Northern Transvaal...
province."She has three sisters and a brother, and is said to have been a tomboy
Tomboy
A tomboy is a girl who exhibits characteristics or behaviors considered typical of the gender role of a boy, including the wearing of typically masculine-oriented clothes and engaging in games and activities that are often physical in nature, and which are considered in many cultures to be the...
as a child.
Semenya attended Nthema Secondary School and now attends the University of Pretoria
University of Pretoria
The University of Pretoria is a multi campus public research university located in Pretoria, the administrative and de facto capital of South Africa...
as a sports science
Sports science
Sport science is a discipline that studies the application of scientific principles and techniques with the aim of improving sporting performance...
student. She began running as training for soccer.
2008
In July Semenya participated in the 2008 World Junior Championships2008 World Junior Championships in Athletics
The 2008 World Junior Championships in Athletics is the 2008 version of the World Junior Championships in Athletics. It was held in Bydgoszcz in Poland at the Zdzisław Krzyszkowiak Stadium between 8 and 13 July 2008....
, and won the gold in the 800 m at the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games
2008 Commonwealth Youth Games
The 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games were held in Pune, India, a city in the state of Maharashtra. They were the third Commonwealth Youth Games, which are held every four years; they were the first Commonwealth Youth Games to be held in Asia....
with a time of 2:04.23.
2009
In the African Junior Championships2009 African Junior Athletics Championships
The 2009 African Junior Athletics Championships were held in Bambous, Mauritius from 30 July to 2 August. There were 41 events in total, of which 21 were contested by male athletes and 20 by female athletes. Multiple gold medallists Caster Semenya and Amaka Ogoegbunam broke championships records,...
Semenya won both the 800 m and 1500 m races with the times of 1:56.72 and 4:08.01 respectively. With that race she improved her 800 m personal best by seven seconds in less than nine months, including four seconds in that race alone. The 800 m time was the world leading time in 2009 at that date. It was also a national record and a championship record. Semenya simultaneously beat the Senior and Junior South African records held by Zelda Pretorius at 1:58.85, and Zola Budd
Zola Budd
Zola Pieterse, better known by her maiden name of Zola Budd , is a former Olympic track and field competitor who, in less than three years, twice broke the world record in the women's 5000 metres and twice was the women's winner at the World Cross Country Championships...
at 2:00.90, respectively.
The International Association of Athletics Federations
International Association of Athletics Federations
The International Association of Athletics Federations is the international governing body for the sport of athletics. It was founded in 1912 at its first congress in Stockholm, Sweden by representatives from 17 national athletics federations as the International Amateur Athletics Federation...
(IAAF) says it was "obliged to investigate" after she made improvements of 25 seconds at 1500 m and eight seconds at 800 m – "the sort of dramatic breakthroughs that usually arouse suspicion of drug use." The IAAF also asked Semenya to undergo a gender test after the win.The IAAF ceased compulsory tests in 1992 but retains the right to test athletes. Scant support for sex test on champion athlete New Scientist Gender verification was dropped from Olympic sports in 1999 as the issue was delicate and scientifically complicated. The verification involves "an endocrinologist, a gynaecologist, an internal medicine
Internal medicine
Internal medicine is the medical specialty dealing with the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of adult diseases. Physicians specializing in internal medicine are called internists. They are especially skilled in the management of patients who have undifferentiated or multi-system disease processes...
expert, an expert on gender and a psychologist" and takes several weeks. This is not the first time the IAAF has asked for gender verification although generally the athletes maintain their privacy. "Caster Semenya faces sex test before she can claim victory" The Times, 19 August 2009 News that the IAAF requested the test broke three hours before the 2009 World Championships 800 m final. IAAF president Lamine Diack
Lamine Diack
Lamine Diack is from Senegal and was the Chairman of the Board of the National Water Company "Société Nationale des Eaux" of Senegal from 1995-2001. He is currently the president of the International Association of Athletics Federations since 8 November 1999. He was re-elected for another 4 year...
stated, "There was a leak of confidentiality at some point and this led to some insensitive reactions."
In August Semenya won gold in the 800 metres
2009 World Championships in Athletics – Women's 800 metres
The women's 800 metres at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Olympic Stadium on 16, 17 and 19 August. Prior to the championships, there was no clear favourite for the race – the twenty fastest times of the season had been run by seventeen different athletes...
at the World Championships
2009 World Championships in Athletics
The 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics were held in Berlin, Germany from 15–23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenburg Gate....
with a time of 1:55.45 in the final, again setting the fastest time of the year.
Gender test
Following her victory at the world championships, questions were raised about her gender.The IAAF's handling of the case spurred many negative reactions. A number of athletes, including retired sprinter Michael Johnson
Michael Johnson (athlete)
Michael Duane Johnson is a retired American sprinter. He won four Olympic gold medals and eight world championship gold medals. Johnson currently holds the world and Olympic records in the 400 m and 4 x 400 meters relay. He formerly held the world and Olympic record in the 200 m, and the world...
, criticized the organization for its response to the incident. Prominent South African civic leaders, commentators, politicians, and activists characterized the controversy as racist
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
, as well as an affront to Semenya's privacy and human rights. The IAAF said it only made the test public after it had already been reported in the media, denying charges of racism and expressing regret about "the allegations being made about the reasons for which these tests are being conducted." The federation also explained that the motivation for the test was not suspected cheating but a desire to determine whether she had a "rare medical condition" giving her an unfair competitive advantage. The president of the IAAF stated that the case could have been handled with more sensitivity. In an interview with South African magazine YOU
YOU
YOU is a South African magazine which is the English version of the Afrikaans family magazine Huisgenoot. It is published in Cape Town by Media24, the print division of Naspers....
Semenya stated, "God made me the way I am and I accept myself." She also took part in a makeover
Makeover
A makeover is a term applied to changing one's appearance, sometimes through cosmetics. Makeovers can range from something as simple as a new haircut, to the use of cosmetic surgery, to the extreme of the implantation of dental veneers, eye-color-changing contact lenses, and the use of...
with the magazine.
On 7 September 2009, Wilfred Daniels, Semenya's coach with Athletics South Africa (ASA), resigned because he felt that ASA "did not advise Ms. Semenya properly". He apologized for personally having failed to protect her. Athletics South Africa President Leonard Chuene admitted on 19 September 2009 to having subjected Semenya to gender tests. He had previously lied to Semenya about the purpose of the tests and to others about having performed the tests. He ignored a request from ASA team doctor Harold Adams to withdraw Semenya from the world championships over concerns about the need to keep her medical records confidential. On the recommendation of South Africa's Minister for Sport and Recreation, Makhenkesi Stofile, Semenya retained the legal firm Dewey & LeBoeuf
Dewey & LeBoeuf
Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP is a prominent global white shoe law firm, headquartered in New York City. Originally founded in 1909, the firm currently has over 2400 lawyers spread throughout 26 offices in 15 countries on 4 continents, and is known primarily for its corporate, insurance, litigation, tax and...
who are acting pro bono "to make certain that her civil and legal rights and dignity as a person are fully protected." Following the furore over her gender, Semenya received great support within South Africa, to the extent of being called a cause celebre
Cause célèbre
A is an issue or incident arousing widespread controversy, outside campaigning and heated public debate. The term is particularly used in connection with celebrated legal cases. It is a French phrase in common English use...
.
In November 2009 South Africa's sports ministry issued a statement that Semenya had reached an agreement with the IAAF to keep her medal and the prize money. The ministry did not say if she would be allowed to compete as a woman but they did note that the IAAF's threshold for when a female is considered ineligible to compete as a woman is unclear.
In December 2009 Track and Field News voted Semenya the Number One Women's 800 metre runner of the year.
2010
In March 2010 she was denied the opportunity to compete in the local Yellow Pages Series V Track and Field event in Stellenbosch, South Africa, because the IAAF had yet to release its findings from her gender test.On 6 July, the IAAF cleared Semenya to return to international competition. The results of the gender tests, however, will not be released for privacy reasons. She returned to competition nine days later winning two minor races in Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
. On August 22, 2010, running on the same track
Olympic Stadium (Berlin)
The Olympiastadion is a sports stadium in Berlin, Germany. There have been two stadiums on the site: the present facility, and one that is called the Deutsches Stadion which was built for the aborted 1916 Summer Olympics. Both were designed by members of the same family, the first by Otto March...
as her World Championship victory, Semenya started slowly but finished strongly, dipping under 2:00 for the first time since the controversy, while winning the ISTAF meet in Berlin.
Not being on full form, she did not enter the World Junior Championships
2010 World Junior Championships in Athletics
The 13th World Junior Championships in Athletics was an international athletics competition for athletes under the age of 20 which was held at the Moncton Stadium in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada from 19–25 July 2010. A total of 44 athletics events were contested at the Championships, 22 by male...
or the African Championships
2010 African Championships in Athletics
The 2010 African Championships in Athletics was held in Nairobi, Kenya from 28 July to 1 August 2010.-Background:The African Championships in Athletics were held in Kenya for the first time...
, both held in July 2010, and opted to target the Commonwealth Games
2010 Commonwealth Games
The 2010 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games, were held in Delhi, India, from 3 to 14 October 2010. A total of 6,081 athletes from 71 Commonwealth nations and dependencies competed in 21 sports and 272 events, making it the largest Commonwealth Games till date...
to be held in October 2010. She improved her season's best to 1:58.16 at the Notturna di Milano
Notturna di Milano
Notturna di Milano is an annual track and field meeting which is held in September at the Arena Civica in Milan, Italy. First held in 1998, the meeting received IAAF permit meeting status the following year...
meeting in early September and returned to South Africa to prepare for the Commonwealth Games. Eventually, she was forced to skip the games due to injury.
In September, the British magazine New Statesman
New Statesman
New Statesman is a British centre-left political and cultural magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s....
included Semenya in its annual list of "50 People That Matter" for unintentionally instigating "an international and often ill-tempered debate on gender politics, feminism and race, becoming an inspiration to gender campaigners around the world."
External links
- Interview with Semenya after the 2009 World Championship 800 m Semi-final Part 1, Part 2 YouTube
- "Where's the Rulebook for Sex Verification?", New York Times, 21 August 2009 (Retrieved 31 January 2010)