I don't know why I'm ever surprised when a
governing body lets me down, especially because
there's a lot of precedent. Do you remember Sepp
Blatter and the womens' tight shorts? Or the IOC
saying that Usain Bolt should tone it down a bit,
even though he was almost single handedly
reviving the drug riddled world of athletics?
But today represented a new low. A complete lack
of judgement. And actually, if someone told me
that the IAAF were being purposely vindictive, I'd probably believe them.
This story is this. 18 year old Caster Semenya of
South Africa had dominated the heats for the
Women's 800m event at the World Championships in Berlin, and qualified easily for tonight's final. This afternoon, a few hours before the final was run, the IAAF released a statement raising the possibility that she may not be a woman. I can't find the full statement, but here is an excerpt via
Eurosport:
"In the case of this athlete, following her
breakthrough in the African junior championships,
the rumours, the gossip was starting to build up.
The gender verification test is an extremely
complex procedure. The situation today is that we
do not have any conclusive evidence that she
should not be allowed to run. This is a medical
condition. It is nothing that she has done. There
is a need to make sure rules are followed. We are
more concerned for the person and not to make
this as something that is humiliating," - IAAF
spokesman Nick Davies.
Just to reiterate, Nick Davies releases a
statement a few hours before the biggest race of
Semenya's life, raising doubt as to her gender.
Then he expresses concern and wants to ensure
that she isn't humiliated. My initial thought was
that Nick Davies can't be that much of an
imbecile, but then I saw an interview with him on
the BBC that removed any doubt (Message to his
interviewer: how could you NOT ask about the
timing of the news release?).
But Davies doesn't have the monopoly in the idiot
stakes. Because after the final was run (Semenya
won easily, ran a half-hearted lap of honour,
then disappeared down the tunnel), we were
introduced to IAAF Secretary General. Pierre
Weiss. Semenya did not appear at the post race
news conference (would you?), and these were
Weiss's remarks:
"We know you want to talk to her, but she is
young, she is inexperienced and she is not able
to reply properly to all your questions," he
said. I will answer for her. The decision not to
put her up (in the news conference) her was taken
by the IAAF and the South African federation. I
repeat, she was not prepared for a situation like
this. She was unknown three weeks ago. No one
could have anticipated this. We are fast but we
are not a lion. If it is proved that she is not a
female, she will be withdrawn and the medals
revised. At the moment, the athlete must be given
the benefit of the doubt."- IAAF Secretary General. Pierre
Weiss
That's right Weiss. It's all about you. And I'm
sure glad you cleared up the lion bit.
It would have been so easy to let tonight's
on-track events happen, then conduct a gender
test privately. If the test proved that she
wasn't who she said she was, they could strip her
of her medal. Michael Johnson made the point on
television that for doping offences, an athlete's
drug test results aren't released until the A
sample AND the B sample come back as positive, long after the event. Why the rush for a gender test?
Truth be told, Semenya may be guilty. She may have a complex medical condition. But that's not the point. My thoughts are with Caster Semenya tonight as she has experienced humiliation on a global scale that most of us cannot appreciate. And even worse, she has been let down by her utterly heartless governing body.
Recent Comments