Thank goodness they finally see sense!

[Prettyvase]

www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/may/01/caster-semenya-loses-landmark-legal-case-iaaf-athletics

www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/may/01/caster-semenya-loses-landmark-legal-case-iaaf-athletics

Yes common sense prevails. I cannot see why anyone could disagree with this ...

Dr Stéphane Bermon, who heads the IAAF’s health and science department, told the Guardian that the policy would ensure fairness of competition.

“Historically the reason why we have separate male and female categories is that otherwise females would never win any medals,” he said. “Testosterone is the most important factor in explaining the difference. We are talking about females competing with levels similar to males. Very often it is more than 20 or 25nmol/L. So it is very high.”

Women can now train without worrying about being a woman!

It was be great if they could legislate against the intimidating testosterone filled hate rants of certain athletes who compete against normal women too.

Great news and how it should be

Thank goodness! the implications could have ruined athletics/sports.

Please don't conflate Caster Semenya with trans athletes.

Sorry Max? It is nobody's fault how human bodies end up as they are but the trend AGAINST women as a sporting human binary was being horrifically damaged.

It was even making girls and young women doubt they could ever compete as a female binary against athletes who clearly were filled with a lot of testerone!

Testosterone* excuse typo

Semenya and an Indian athlete, Chand are not trans, but born with high testosterone levels.
Bolt was born with super long legs a feature of his DNA. Should we ban him, strip him of his titles since he has now retired?
Will all female athletes be subjected to screening to ensure they are feminine enough?
What about Fatima Whitbread? She appears to have a very male physique.

Semenya is a woman she was born a woman and should be left to compete as a woman.

If the event is called "female" and every female is subject to the same limits - ie someone with an XX who is above the line would also have to reduce - then seems fair enough to me.

Yabu. This ruling is wrong. She is natural. What next? Chop off 1 foot of height from a 7 foot tall swimmer to make it fair against a 6 footer? Not allow anyone to use money to buy private sports lessons as that's unfair on poorer folk?
The olympics is about who is the fastest, however they reach that, everyone who gets there is priveleged in some way. It's 'not fair' against 99% of the population.
This ruling sucks.

So, caster who was born female is forced to take drugs to lessen her natural talents; and yet someone born male, developed male, is allowed to decide to switch as an adult to female and complete. Weird.

I'm quite passionate about how wrong this ruling is, so I'm posting a third time!
I'm a swimmer, just 5 feet tall. I have zero chance at a world level against a 6 foot tall swimmer (who puts in the training). Zero. That is life, and I will continue to train and compete at a national level, and enjoy it, and get on with it. Taking her natural testosterone away is exactly the same as taking someone's height away.

I reckon the problem with testosterone levels is that it's really easy to increase them as opposed to other biological advantages such as height.

Yanbu.

Common sense has arrived on some form.

Ps love the guardian “where comment is free” article, but find it interesting “comment” has also been disabled on that article so it’s not that free...

YABU hth

So, caster who was born female...but that's sort of the problem.

It was assumed Caster was female at birth because of an absence of obvious genitalia. She actually grew up with internal testes which gave her the masculine boost of testosterone making her appearance and physical capabilities closer matched to a male competitor than female.

It's utterly unfair that her body and privacy is under such intense scrutiny and highlights why all sporting bodies need to move to a solid binary system that is based on biology. The absence of Y chromosome and normal hormone tolerance levels means you compete as a woman. Anyone else competes in an 'open' category.

It's still binary and makes the playing field obvious and fair. So a 6ft woman with a cracking stride would still have a natural advantage over a 5ft 5 woman in a 100m race...but crucially there's no dubious other advantage that calls into question the validity of the 6ft woman's race results thereby undermining her hard work to get there in the first place.

I wholeheartedly agree with the ruling but really do feel for Caster. Despite her biology she was raised and trained as a woman and this must feel like a vendetta against her, when in truth it's about making it possible for all future athletes to be free of this media circus if they achieve something incredible. A simple and non-invasive blood test to confirm your competitive category and you're done.

If anyone can compete as a woman, with any level of testosterone, born Male or intersex with all the physical advantages that provides when the body is forming, why are there different weight classes in boxing? Why not force people in wheelchairs to compete against everyone else? Why bother with the Paralympics? Why have junior teams? They should be able to compete with adults.

Caster thinks they are a woman but they are not according to everything I have read : but no one knows for sure because they have maintained medical privacy. That’s their right. But if they want to run as a woman they need to show they are a woman. Since they haven’t, I assume it’s because they can’t.

will have to reduce their testosterone to below five nmol/L for at least six months if they want to compete internationally
Hence, normal levels of testosterone in females from birth to puberty may be less than 10 ng/dL (less than 0.35 nmol/L) and can gradually increase to 12 ng/dL (0.42 nmol
So under 5 for intersex when ave for women is .42. - a. Levelish playing field imv.

Just because I believe this is the right ruling as it's the only way to protect women's sports long term, doesn't mean you can't feel sorry for an individual who is affected by it and who has put tremendous amounts of effort in getting to such a high level.

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0004l75
Anyone listen to this yesterday? I hadn’t realised that this has been a problem for pro women’s sports since it began. Stella Walsh competed as a woman, lived as a woman, was ‘assigned as female at birth’ but was intersex.

The thing is she has a very unfair advantage. Women are banned from competing if they take testosterone to increase their performance but she has very high levels naturally and that’s ok? Outside of sport she lives her life as a man. Dresses like a man. Sounds like a man. Was the ‘groom’ at her wedding. But in sport she is all ‘woman’? Men and women’s events are separate because men are naturally stronger, faster, bigger and more powerful. A ‘normal’ woman doesn’t stand a chance against Caster. Damn right she should take meds to lower her testosterone if she wants to compete. It’s only fair to level the playing field. Otherwise she must quit or compete against men. If I didn’t know her story I would never guess she was actually female. The only time Caster pretends to be female is on the track.

There may be a need for a third category for trans and intersex people to compete in sports and everything else with possibly varying subcategories so that it is inclusive and where no one feels disadvantaged.