ATHLETICS:Caster Semenya has won her right to compete, and that's okay, but the athletes she competes against have rights too, writes IAN O'RIORDAN
ANYONE WHO has ever run 800 metres on the track will understand why they call this event “the man killer”. Anyone who hasn’t then believe me, it is. Everything about two-lap running is designed to create a head-on collision between the limits of human speed and human endurance, the end result being every drop of blood poisoned by lactic acid, then complete and gut-wrenching exhaustion. And when the execution is witnessed at its pinnacle, the 800m is nearly always spectacularly breathtaking.
Anyway, this has been extraordinary week for the event, starting in Berlin last Sunday. But I’m not just talking about the new world record for the men’s 800m, the 1:41.09 run by David Rudisha, the 21-year-old Kenyan first discovered, and still coached, by the famous Brother Colm O’Connell – the Cork native who since leaving home in 1976 is still converting the African nation, at least in the distance-running sense. Rudisha marginally bettered the 1:41.11 set 13 years ago by Wilson Kipketer, who by no great coincidence was also discovered, and coached, by Brother O’Connell, before going on to represent Denmark.
Rudisha’s display of 800m running in Berlin was truly astonishing. Paced to the bell in 48.65, he promptly took over and ran the second 400m, alone, in around 52 seconds, winning by half the straight. Only four men have now run inside 1:42; himself, Kipketer, Sebastian Coe and Joaquim Cruz – and already Rudisha is talking about running inside 1:41. Although on reflection, Rudisha’s performance might soon pale in comparison to the abilities of the athlete who just a few minutes earlier in Berlin, won the women’s 800m in 1:59.90.
Caster Semenya, still only 19, needs no introduction, yet her victory in Berlin last Sunday has suddenly reignited the man/woman debate — also known as the either/or debate, or simply the is she/is he debate. There was nothing overly spectacular about her 1:59.90 (she ran 1:55.45 to win the World Championships, on the same track last year, at age 18), yet this was only Semenya’s third race back since the 11-month lay-off, while the IAAF puzzled over what to do about her much-discussed gender test.
But wow, did she look good – toying with the field early on, before weaving in and out of the leading runners down the homestretch to win by several metres. She looked stunningly fresh, while the rest of the world-class field finished exhausted.
Then last night, Semenya lined up against an even stronger field in the final Diamond League meeting of the year in Brussels, and on this occasion – in only her fourth race back and apparently off a very limited base of training – she delivered a strangely coy performance, coming from last to third on the final lap without appearing to try very hard. But there’s still no denying that Semenya has got some distinctly manly features.
Yet ever since her breakthrough performance in Berlin last August, the young South African has been presented as the unfortunate victim of some very regrettable handling of the issue – and not just by the IAAF, but by the South African athletics federation, and possibly by some of the lawyers involved, too.
But it appears that mood is changing. Her performance in Berlin last Sunday drew a much colder response from some of her opponents. Britain’s Jemma Simpson said the “human rights” of other athletes were being ignored, while Canadian Diane Cummins said they were “literally running against a man”.
Semenya’s mood appears to be changing too. In a press conference before running in Brussels last night, she was asked about this response to her comeback, and if the negativity was getting to her: “No, I’m just staying positive,” she said. “Mustn’t think about other athletes. Yeah, someone can be huge, big. It doesn’t matter. It goes through your mind. It’s nothing to be afraid of. So I don’t see any problem. Anybody can complain. Advantages, or whatever. It doesn’t matter. At the end of the day, we’re all run. There’s always one winner. So there’s nothing we can do.”
She delivered this with a clear attitude of defiance, in no way trying to conceal the nature of her voice. (“If you speak with her on the telephone, you might mistake her for a man.” Her father, Jacob, reportedly said that.) Her coach, Michael Seme, is even more defiant, and is already looking forward to Semenya winning the Commonwealth Games, in India, in October – which I’ve no doubt she will: “It’s up to them to say and do what they want to. As long as the organisers of these meetings invite us, there is no problem. People are people and they will say things, but good luck to them. We have no problem. If these athletes don’t want to come and run, it’s up to them.”
The most worrying issue with Semenya right now is that in allowing her to compete, yet refusing to disclose any details, the IAAF have actually created more questions than answers. All we got last month when she was cleared was a 55-word statement, or rather non-statement – without any pointers towards the hormone treatment that she was reportedly receiving as a condition of her return. I certainly don’t know the exact details of Semenya’s gender test, and truth is I don’t want to, but we do need to know what standards the IAAF are applying in gender verification.
The problem with that is the IAAF are faced with the question no one has ever been able to answer: what is the ultimate difference between a man and a woman? Chances are the question will never be answered, because science keeps suggesting how much potential blending there is.
In the meantime all we can have are standards, and what deviates from the standard definition of male and female.
Until those standards are agreed and made public, the question about Semenya – and any similar such athlete – will remain. Semenya has won her right to compete, and that’s okay, but the athletes she competes against have rights too.
