South African teen wins 800 amid gender-test flap

[Torgo]

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/news?slug=ap-worlds-gendertest&prov=ap&type=lgns

[ghouck]

I was reading a little about this. Weird situation for her to be in, but surely not her fault. BUT, if she is inter-sex, it truly isn't fair to the other competitors.

[Trevor]

She does look a little boy-ish, but according to her trainers, she has shrugged off the problems and just wants to race. 

[3mnkids]

I dont understand why they think she may not be female. Because she is faster than the other women? All of them are muscular and manly looking so if they are going to test her they should test all of them. 

[ghouck]

I dont understand why they think she may not be female.

Have you heard her voice or seen her in profile where you can see what to me looked like an Adam's apple? I have a hard time believing she's a woman, just look at her biceps comparatively. As manly as she looks in that picture, it really doesn't do her justice in the manlyness department.

[3mnkids]

I dont understand why they think she may not be female.

Have you heard her voice or seen her in profile where you can see what to me looked like an Adam's apple? I have a hard time believing she's a woman, just look at her biceps comparatively. As manly as she looks in that picture, it really doesn't do her justice in the manlyness department.

I have heard her speak and i haven't noticed an adams apple. Some women look like they have an adams apple(ann coulter). I dont know if she is a he or not but i think making something like this public is wrong. What if she is a woman? How embarrassing this must be.

[Jim H]

Beyond her body and voice, just look at the faces.



You'd honestly place that face as female?  It's certainly not definitive proof, of course.  But, even the out of focus woman I placed on the right is more female looking.  Just thought it worth mentioning.

I do like how they need a column of like 8 experts to determine someone's sex.  It really shows you how specious the separation can be. 

[ghouck]

She looks like the guy from 'Police Academy' who makes all the weird noises.

But, it's also not just the physical features, it was also that she won by an unusually wide margin, going from being virtually unnoticed to demolishing records in a very short time. Apparently the gender testing they are going to do was mandatory up until just a decade or so ago.

[venomx]

LOL @ Michael Winslow joke

[AndyC]

Yeah, I've seen lots of female athletes who were a bit too mannish, a little androgynous, but this goes way beyond that. No matter how hard I look, I can't see any clues in that picture to suggest that it even might be a woman. It looks like a picture of a man racing with women. It's really quite amazing. She most likely is a she (although I really wouldn't be surprised one way or the other) but to look at her, I can see why some people might want proof.

My first thought when I heard about this was just how flattering it must have been for her. "Sorry love, we have to do some medical tests to make sure you're a girl."

[ghouck]

I have thought from the beginning that she is either woman or inter-sex, which she may not even know about. There was something in the news 20+ years ago about some woman athlete, maybe a swimmer, that was in between and stripped of a medal or record. I can't remember the exacts, but this reminded me of it.

[CheezeFlixz]

"She" looks a little manish to me.

[AndyC]

"She" looks a little manish to me.

If it was a he, I couldn't say he looked even slightly effeminate.

[3mnkids]

I agree that she looks like a man. If i saw her walking down the street i would assume she was a he. If she had a different hair style maybe it wouldnt be so bad. I just find it hard to believe that they would try to get away with something like this especially since she looks so much like a man.


What will they do if she is intersexed?

[Jim H]

I agree that she looks like a man. If i saw her walking down the street i would assume she was a he. If she had a different hair style maybe it wouldnt be so bad. I just find it hard to believe that they would try to get away with something like this especially since she looks so much like a man.


What will they do if she is intersexed?

Basically, if her intersexed status gives her an advantage (high presence of testosterone, for example), she'll be banned from competition.