Semenya debacle exposed South Africans true colors, their ingratiated vanity, and self serving narcissism

SHOOT: Lest we forget that not a single political voice advocated caution. Many figures grandstanded, including ordinary citizens. When the story first broke I was one of many in a newsroom, glued to a television. While some found it funny, almost everyone agreed that this sort of scrutiny wasn't in Semenya's interests. Yet many South Africans lashed out at international criticisms calling it racism. Who took the global view which was: did Caster have an unfair advantage or not? The debate instead became chest beating narcissism - especially from Chuene.

This sets a dangerous precedent for future issues, which require subtle understanding, not loud and provacative grandstanding or rhetoric. Those who made the most noise on the Semenya issue - including the local newspapers - ought to be most ashamed. Do you hail a champion when you don't know for sure that it's deserved?Do you take the populist stance and agitate, do you Malemise an issue, or do you focus on calm, on listening, on gathering the facts and wait and see despite the clamour for blood from a mob ready to rampage? This says a lot about our ethics and our ability to indulge our passions rather than be intellectually reasonable, rationaland let's face it, serve good and right rather than what feels good and right.

clipped from www.mg.co.za Semenya threatens legal action against the Guardian An "exclusive interview" published in the newspaper on Friday quoted Semenya saying "people want to stare at me now". "Our client has instructed us to convey that she continues to refuse to grant interviews to any persons," the law firm stated. The paper denied that Semenya had been tricked into an interview and told the Associated Press the reporter who wrote the article had been invited to speak to her. - Sapa

IAAF may want ASA's Leonard Chuene's head over Caster saga as facts emerge

BEELD: Volgens Davies het mnr. Leonard Chuene, president van ASA, die laaste paar weke soveel onwaarhede rondom die IAAF se hantering van Semenya se saak verkondig dat dit beslis vir hom ’n verleentheid gaan word wanneer die feite bekend gemaak word.

LATEST: Semenya has no female organs.

Chuene gaan dalk geen keuse hê as om te bedank as president van ASA nie, het hy gesê. Davies het gesê dit is jammer dat ASA toegelaat het dat politici by die saak betrokke raak sonder dat hulle al die feite tot hul beskikking het.

Ongeag die uitslae sal Semenya die goue medalje behou wat sy in Berlyn gewen het, asook die $60?000 (sowat R450?000) vir haar eerste plek.

Hy het gesê daar is geen mediese toetse in Suid-Afrika op Semenya gedoen nie, ten spyte daarvan dat die IAAF dr. Harold Adams, die SA spandokter wat op die mediese paneel van die IAAF en ASA dien, opdrag gegee het om toe te sien dat dit gedoen word.

SHOOT: The plot thickens. My view was Chuene doth protesteth too much. Since no one could know the results of those tests, it would always have been prudent to say less, rather than make grandiose statements from a grandstand. Sure, you can win the popular vote throwing the racism card, but when the facts emerge, they're simply that - the facts.

From the article it seems Semenya is not co-operating or is not reachable, for the moment. That could change, and one expects we'll know more and know better soon.

clipped from www.beeld.com Die Internasionale Vereniging van Atletiekfederasies (IAAF) wil dringend praat met Caster Semenya, Suid-Afrika se wêreldkampioen in die 800 m vir vroue, maar word skynbaar deur Atletiek Suid-Afrika (ASA) verhinder. Die IAAF het gister bevestig hy het die uitslae van die geslagstoetse op Semenya ontvang. Dit sal eers openbaar gemaak word nadat ander deskundiges dit ook bestudeer het en Semenya daaroor ingelig is. Volgens Davies val versoeke van die IAAF aan ASA om met haar in verbinding te tree tot dusver op dowe ore. “ASA se optrede kan ernstige gevolge vir Semenya inhou as ons nie binnekort met haar self kan praat nie. In kort kom dit daarop neer dat sy nie wil saamwerk nie. “As dit ’n dwelmverwante probleem was, sou sy al lankal geskors gewees het, maar hierdie is ’n unieke probleem waarvoor die IAAF se reëls nie voorsiening maak nie. Dit is vir ons belangrik om met haar oor die uitslae van die toetse te gesels,” het Davies gesê.

Caster Semenya arrives home in South Africa to a heroine's welcome

Semenya is not accused of trying to cheat, but of perhaps unknowingly having a medical condition that blurs her gender and gives her an unfair advantage over other female runners.

SHOOT: I can't help thinking this reminds me of the Libyan guy arriving to a heroes welcome. In boh cases it appears the cheers fans might be misguided.

DailyMail.co.uk: Semenya's proud mother Dorcus has always maintained her daughter is female. 'I know who and what my child is. Caster is all girl, and no one can change that,' she said.
Enlarge Caster Mokgadi Semenya 's birth certificate on which it states she is female

Caster Mokgadi Semenya 's birth certificate on which it states she is female

However, Caster's former headmaster, Eric Mobida, said she was about 15 before he realised she was a girl.

'She was always rough and played with the boys,' he said. 'She liked soccer and she wore pants to school, never a dress. It was only in grade 11 that I realised she's a girl.'

Caster's grandmother, Maphuthi Sekgala, said the athlete had been teased about her masculine appearance since the day she joined the village soccer team as the only girl.

clipped from www.dailymail.co.uk Over 1,000 fans sang and danced in support of Caster Semenya, the controversial runner who is undergoing gender testing, on her triumphant return to South Africa. Semenya arrived with other members of the South African team after her 800-meter win at the world championships in Berlin. Fans organised by women's rights and political groups, school sports teams and delighted individuals ringed the balcony overlooking the arrivals hall blowing plastic horns known as vuvuzelas and dancing in celebration. A source close to the runner confirmed that tests carried out before the start of the World Championships indicated she had three times the normal female level of testosterone in her body. The tests were carried out after questions arose about her muscular build and deep voice. South Africans have not let the controversial tests get in the way of her achievement however.

Caster Semenya tells doubters to "go to hell"

In an interview with South Africa's Beeld newspaper, Semenya's former headmaster said he didn't realize she was a girl because she wore pants instead of a skirt to school.

"She was always rough and played with the boys. She liked soccer and she wore pants to school. She never wore a dress. It was only in grade 11 that I realized she's a girl," Eric Modiba, head of the Nthema Secondary School, told the newspaper.

clipped from news.yahoo.com FAIRLIE, South Africa – In the poor, rural village where South African runner Caster Semenya grew up, relatives on Thursday brushed off questions about her deep voice and muscular build that have prompted the world governing body for track and field to seek gender tests. "That's how God made her," said her cousin, Evelyn Sekgala, who recalls Semenya being teased about her boyish looks while growing up in Fairlie, a village at the end of a dirt road where the biggest traffic jam on Thursday was a herd of goats. The 18-year-old runner's father, Jacob, told the Sowetan newspaper: "She is my little girl. ... I raised her and I have never doubted her gender. She is a woman and I can repeat that a million times." A teacher first got Semenya interested in running, her cousin said in this village some 300 miles (500 kilometers) north of Johannesburg.