South African champ found to have three times the normal testosterone level
Results of Caster Semenya’s preliminary medical test showed that she had three times the normal amount of testosterone in her body.
News about the results leaked just a few hours before her winning competition. According to BBC news, the leak was due to a letter faxed to the wrong person.
Semenya’s fellow South Africans, especially her family leapt to her defense regarding the gender issue.
The results did not help because the International Association of Athletics Federation insisted on a gender verification test to be performed on Semenya.
South African representative to IAAF, Leonard Cheune, thinks that IAAF’s treatment of Semenya was unfair.
Cheune resigned his seat on the IAAF board because in his opinion, it would be unfair to attack the IAAF while still remaining as a council member.
Britain’s Daily Telegraph reported that the head coach of South Africa’s athletic team was Dr. Ekkart Arbeit, a former East German coach. Dr. Arbeit was reportedly accused before by a female shot putter, Heidi Kreiger aka Andreas Kreiger, for forcing her to take anabolic steroids.
It was not determined, however, the extent of Arbeit’s involvement with Semenya’s training.
From Brisbane Times:
Preliminary medical tests on the South African athlete at the centre of a gender row reportedly showed triple the normal female level of testosterone in her body.
