In light of the recent court case against Caster Semenya I’ve decided to add my opinion to the melting pot of journalists and pundits alike. First of all in mine and many others view Caster is a national treasure and should be treated as such. The 800m world champion has faced much adversity in the years since it was revealed to the world that she has both female and male genitalia and she must be commended for her undying determination to her sport and country, living her dream the way she desires and not letting outside influences determine her legacy. An inspiration to many.
In Casters case the IAAF are trying to determine whether she has an advantage because her body naturally produces more testosterone because of her genetic makeup. The short answer would be yes. Testosterone is considered a major factor in athletes and in general the higher the levels usually the better the performance and so Caster with levels much higher than her opponents have an advantage however let’s talk about this so called advantage.
Is she on PED’s? With the strict testing done by the IAAF she has passed the tests that they have given her, proving that she is not trying to gain an unfair advantage. The girl quite simply wants to run and run for her country and win for her country as a proud black woman. Her advantage is natural, she is born that way and had she not decided to compete no-one would begrudge her of anything but she wants to run. She is using what God gave her to do what she feels God himself has asked her to do. She runs and she is damn good at it .
Without going into detail there have been athletes in the past with these abnormal levels of testosterone but nothing was ever said and granted in the past testing was not an exact science but just looking at some of those women you can see that they are different and yet were allowed to compete. So why the problem with Caster? Is it because she’s black? Is it because of her testosterone levels? Is it because she is African? I suppose the answers to these questions we’ll never know and it’s sad really that her exceptional talent is not being celebrated in the way that it should be. If it had been a male with naturally high levels and dominating his sport he would be celebrated the world over and yet our Caster is ostracized because she is different.
In my opinion she should be left alone and allowed to compete. If an athlete has an advantage that is natural and God given they should be allowed to compete. Is that not why we watch sport? To see the best of the best. To see people doing things that we can’t do. To live these athletes’ dreams with them as they inspire us, motivate us to be versions of ourselves that we never thought possible? At the end of the day it is her dream to run for her country and I don’t think the IAAF or anyone else should have the power to take that away from her. LET HER RUN!
