A six-pack midriff to make Hip-Hop stars proud. A trace of fine-haired moustache here, a few ripples of muscle there and an obliteration of other competitors at a global athletics meet all make for the brouhaha over the gender of South Africa’s Caster Semenya. Is she a he or a she, that is the question.
I might add that when you have a child and proceed to name her Caster in whatever language, you have opened the doors for questions as to her gender even when she is not visible like over the phone.
At 18, caster Semenya blew away a field full of more experienced and long-suffering 800 meter runners of repute. She did not only do that but also left a gaping void between herself and the others at the finish line. So wide was the gap that she had enough room to display a few gym poses for the cameras before the other strained and stretched to get there.
Ordinarily and without such a difference in performance, there probably would have been references to the ‘New Maria Mutola’, ‘Emerging African Star’ and the usual flow of accolades bestowed on one so young winning on such an international stage.
Following her gold medal performance, Caster Semenya has been ordered to undergo gender tests to prove she is female. I am not sure how such test are taken, where, by whom and what the intricacies are in the discovery process. Whatever it is, one way or another, proof of something will emerge.
In the meantime, Semenya has returned to a heroine’s welcome in South Africa. They sure know how to celebrate. You should se the celebratory ‘war’ dances on the streets when there is something to shout about.
Madikazela made a rare appearance. Winnie Mandela could not resist a stage that was faced with the world’s media, cameras and flashbulbs. She still looks the part, freedom leader and all that.
Then it happened for me. Caster Semenya smiled.
They say there is something in a smile. You can tell intent, get an insight into feelings, draw inference as to thoughts and make a determination regarding origins in some cases.
This was the smile of a little girl.
That in itself does not prove anything. I know some nice pretty boys who have cute girlish smiles. Yes, they are everywhere, even here in Nigeria.
Phenomenal performances are attributed to a variety of reasons, mostly preparation, commitment, diet, natural ability and physical composition.
Caster Semenya may have prepared well, had natural ability, been committed to the South African cause, eaten well over her training period (no pun intended) but certainly on the face of it had much more physical composition than the opposition in that final race in Berlin.
Is Caster Semenya male or female? The South Africans came out in a near-riot to welcome her at O.R. Thambo International airport in Johannesburg, placards, war chants and microphones. Prominent South Africans and Sports Administrators were there. I feel for all the other South African athletes who sought to make a triumphant return home. Their achievements paled in comparison. The superstar girl athlete was home and her family had suddenly increased to include every South African who was not at work that day.
I love mothers. They have an undying love for their children and will stand by them regardless of the opposition. That is mothers who have the natural inclination to be mothers not those other ones.
Semenya’s mother should know. Her kid may not have been the chubbiest, cutest, girly coo-coo and boo-boo kid at birth but she is sure that she was a girl on the day of delivery. Whatever may have happened from then on to her baby daughter, physically or emotionally, she had no control over. ‘That’s my baby and she is a girl!’.
I love the way African mothers rubbed their bellies in public while reminiscing over the length of the labour and strains of birth. Mine reminds me each time and at this age how labourious it was. A cheap shot at emotional blackmail but that is my mother for you.
Are female athletes restricted to look and perform within certain parameters?
Maria Mutola the great 800 meter runner from Mozambique did not look or run like the girl next door.
What is it about the 800 meters for women?
Cute buns, nice long black hair, alluring smile and all, Isibayeva the great Russian Pole-vaulter gives you a sense that she can punch your head into oblivion. And she is not African in case you missed it.
Is this racism, as some South Africans want us to believe?
There have been instances in athletics history where gender infractions have been discovered so there will be nothing new there.
In the days of drug-enhanced performances, male or female, athletes have been bulkier, faster and left us in awe of long-standing records being smashed to smithereens.
While we have lived with records being expunged on grounds that they were not ‘naturally’ achieved. This will be different if it turns out that Caster Semenya is actually not female. Don’t ask me what the other likely gender options could be.
Once in a while there comes an athlete, male or female, that leaves us stunned. FloJo did that and it wasn’t just the one-legged running suit, flamboyant hair and awful lengthy fingernails. MarionJones came and we saw where that went. Ben Johnson left us talking for a while then it all blew up in his face..
We have had gender controversies with Nigerian female athletes recently. The all-conquering female football team, the Falcons, has been a subject of conjecture in recent times as have been some track athletes. However, none of the winning athletes in a men’s competition in Nigeria is yet to be determined to have been female. Dare we infer the same of the lovely Team USA or Brazil led by my all-time favourite, Marta?
We have enough on our plate with MRI scans and Carbon-dating.
One thing to note, they all do not have names like Caster.
Before all of these were the athletes from the old Eastern European bloc. Lets not go there.
Racism, Gender issues, National pride, Coach resigning, stupidly in my opinion or Political motivations, for now, Caster Semenya is an 18 year old girl from South Africa who blew the world away.
Congratulations, for now, Caster Semenya. Whatever you are. Very few will get the opportunity to grab global headlines, positive or otherwise, in their lifetime.
Lord please do not let it show that the sexy lean world-class high jumper Blanca from Croatia (or is it Bulgaria?) is male. This will really ruin my love for high-flying sportswomen.
I dread a sudden discovery that Usain ‘Lightning’ Bolt turns out to be a young hip-swaying dancehall queen from Kingston Jamaica.
