Caster Semenya Is Back on Track

It was about this time last year when Caster Semenya, an unknown 18-year-old South African runner, made global news after taking the Gold medal at the 12th International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Championships in Athletics for her 1:55.45 800-meter dash, the fastest time of the year. But it wasn't her athletic prowess that dominated the headlines. It was the IAAF's skepticism about whether or not Semenya is genetically a woman.

As a result of competitors' doubts (sixth place Italian runner Elisa Piccione stated, “For me, she is not a woman”), and an eight second improvement in her performance time, Semenya was asked by the IAAF to undergo a gender verification examination to prove she is female. The test would be conducted by a team of doctors that included an endocrinologist, a gynecologist, an internal medicine expert, an expert on gender, and a psychologist. An outraged response from progressive bloggers erupted, sparking many heated conversations about the outmoded and discriminatory nature of the gender binary. The BBC's Tom Fordyce wrote, "That any woman would be confronted with such serious accusation in front of a worldwide audience of millions struck many as callous. That it was an 18-year-old from Limpopo province at her first major senior championships seemed cruel in the extreme."

Cruel, indeed. When the test results came in, Semenya discovered that she is intersex, and the life changing news was difficult for the young track star to bear. Although the IAAF agreed to allow Semenya to keep her medal and the prize money in November, it wasn't until yesterday that she was granted the right to compete in future competitions as a woman. The ruling is effective immediately.

Semenya's simultaneously heartbreaking and inspiring story has reached a storybook ending. (You listening, Hollywood? Why not capitalize on Fela's Broadway success? "Lady" is fitting for the soundtrack.) Yet it is still far from over. The young woman's athletic career is just beginning to take off, and the effect this victory may have in the world of professional sports remains to be seen. For now, this writer hopes that the next time a major media event happens with Semenya at the center, it is because she has tromped the international competition yet again and, this time, receives the accolades she deserves.

Photo credit: Erik van Leeuwen