Thursday, August 20, 2009

Semenya...yeah right.

March 2009
July 2009
August 2009...my has she grown...

After watching the 800m final last night, I am convinced there is SOMETHING fishy going on with South Africa's Semenya. For starters, she doesn't look 18. The musculature and sheer size is not that of a late teen, especially of a woman not on PED's. Then there's the question of her sex. Objectively, she looks like a man. Her quads are twice the girth of my head and she is flat as a pancake- not that boobs signify femininity but come on, at least a sports bra for appearances-sake.

Beyond aesthetics, watch he/she race. Semenya blazes through the first 400 with not an ounce of fatigue, carrying the pack through in 56.83. Sick. Then strolls through the next 200 in about 30, hits the 600 at 1:26.96 and then decides- ok, NOW I'm going to throw down...she takes off and negative splits the next 200- even turns around on the curve to see how close the following pack is! Form remains consistent the ENTIRE race and showed no chance of wavering. She runs a 1:55.45. Your thoughts please. I am perplexed. I know some athletes are just so good that these sorts of performances can "look" easy but... I just don't know about this one.

Here's her World Championship performance...

12 comments:

alyssa said...

alex actually put up a good post about this...i direct your attention to his blog.

Ben said...

"she's a man baby!"

Steve said...

Ha, I was just about to post about this, and it is already here.
IMO, "she" looks like a dude. It must be pretty uncomfortable to run with your junk taped up like that so it doesn't bulge. Ouch.

I wonder what the rules are if you have gender-changing surgery? I have no problem with people wanting to do that, but I think if you were born a dude, you should compete as a dude.

A friend of mine had an issue with a burst Norplant, releasing (I guess) testosterone much faster than it was intended. She ended up with some male-looking muscles, but she was still very identifiable as a female... and very fast.

BG said...

Brush that dirt off your shoulders.

Collin said...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2009/aug/20/caster-semenya-sex-row-athletics

They're actually making her take a gender test. hahahaha

Collin said...

Granted, women's record is a 1:53, so for people to doubt her gender based on 1:55 is silly. I just think her gender should be doubted because she's obviously a man.

JAR said...

She definitely looks like a man. It is possible that she and her family do not realize that she is a genetically a man; sometimes the genitalia fail to develop properly. But, the gender testing that they are making her take will answer that question.

Jake Marren said...

This whole wretched scandal smacks of a terrible double standard for women. If a man had a genetic condition that made him more powerful or coordinated the media would hail him as "freakishly talented" or the "next generation of athlete." Instead the media castigates her as a sexual freak. This woman's genetic condition is not a simple "she is a man." She most likely somewhere in between and who are a bunch of doctors to tell her who she is.

cheese said...

being the slow day at work that it is, i've been reading a bunch about this today.

1. more than her outward appearance, i'm wondering about her 9-second drop from last year. i know they say she's 18 and improving a lot, but that's huge.
2. her mom and grandmother vouch that she's at least on the outside.
3. actually, she was in 2nd for that first lap, but she definitely looked like she threw down her last 200 with ease.
4. i doubt it's doping, because they've done a ton of tests lately and already turned up (surprise) a moroccan.
5. they frown upon gender deception to the point of banning competition. see Ewa KÅ‚obukowska or Stalislawa Walasiewicz, or just this article http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/The-sad-story-of-Santhi-Soundarajan/articleshow/1109135.cms
6. did you know the hitler youth dressed a guy up as a girl for the 1936 berlin olympics? he finished 4th.

i guess i'd just say wait and see what their tests say before judging her

Ben said...

look, this isn't "society" judging a female in a way that they wouldn't judge a male. these are her competitors saying "somethin ain't right here". the IAAF is only looking into this because part of their job is to ensure a level playing field. if they just said - "gender testing is forbidden because we don't want to offend anybody" you better believe that someone would take advantage of that. some athletes will do ANYTHING to "win" - it's not inconceivable that somebody would have surgery in order to win a medal. i'm not saying that's true in this case, but if they have to draw the line somewhere - right?
finally, if you're a woman who looks like a man you're probably pretty self-aware of that fact. i doubt she's shocked - and in the end, if she's a female, the IAAF will have done her a favor because nobody will be able to question her gender again. if she is a he, then he shouldn't be competing against women.

BG said...

@Johnnie Cochran: If there wasn't a double standard, then women would be competing with men.

Since we, as "society", have found certain double standards acceptable, such as women who run "only" 2:00.00 are allowed to run at worlds instead of making them run 1:45.40 like the men, it behooves the organizing body to define what a "woman" is, and develop a method for testing. Everyone who passes the test may compete with women, all others with the men only.

So far, it sounds like the IAAF doesn't really have a specific definition, and this could very well end up like Oscar Pistorius' situation, where all rigorous scientific evidence indicates that his prostheses are advantageous in some way, but then the scientists list in the report only the similarities between the Cheetah Blades and normal running. It's really going to depend on which doctors are examining Semenya.

RM said...

You guys all use to many " " air quotes.

She's a chick. Definitely not a dude. I think what's crazier is that the women's WR is 1:53. I'd say that's more unimaginable than Kipketer's 1:41.11. I've seen a dude run in the 1:42s within the last year. Chicks have a pretty hard time breaking 2:00.

Look at Maria Mutola. She looked like a dude. She was the scariest person I've ever seen. I never once heard anyone question her genderality.

It's like when Britney Spears' rack got huge. She used to just say "hey look, I was 16, now I'm 18. That shit just develops differently for different people." While she definitely has fakes, maybe this is the real deal. She looks like a girl in the facial area. Her muscles are pretty huge, I'd definitely be more suspect of PEDs.

Her stride indicates she's got a sub 1:50 in her. Maybe she's trying to not draw too much suspicion by not going out and crushing the records.

I'd feel pretty bad if people were openly questioning whether or not I was what I say I am, think of how that must hurt her feelings. It's not her fault she look the way she do.

Also, and finally, who gives a shit. Doesn't affect any of us.