FILE PHOTO: South Africa's Caster Semenya celebrates after she won silver in the women's 800m final at the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium, Britain August 11, 2012. REUTERS/Phil Noble/File Photo. She had smashed her own personal best times in winning gold in the 800 metres at the World Championships in Berlin. Those improvements, complaints from fellow athletes, and let’s face it, her androgynous appearance, led the IAAF to demand an investigation.
But it’s not just the lab worker who leaked the test results, a few fellow athletes and the world governing body that are responsible for the microscope she’s had to live under. The media around the world have played a big part too. And that continued when the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne heard the challenge to the proposed IAAF regulations on “athletes with differences in sexual development”.
1. Most media outlets published the story from the IAAF press release without ever having published the original allegation. A denial of another media outlets incorrect story is not a story, so the IAAF statement shouldn’t have been published by any other publication but The Times. 3. The media has an important part to play in telling the truth. But with that right comes responsibility. We need to both respect and protect people, and their dignity, as far as possible.
Why are South Africa supporting someone thatvdo not believe in fair sportsmanship? It is one thing to support his/her condition but that does not means that the sport world owe him/her anything. Keep sport on a fair level for every one that competes in it.