YAAY !! Semenya cleared by IAAF !!

South African 800 metres world champion Caster Semenya has been cleared to return to competition with immediate effect by the International Association of Athletics Federerations.






Semenya, 19, has not run competitively since undergoing tests at the Berlin world championships last August.
"I am thrilled to enter the global athletics arena once again and look forward to competing with all the disputes behind me," Semenya said in a statement released by her lawyers.
Athletics South Africa said it was in contact with her coach to find out if Semenya could be included in the country's squad to compete in the IAAF world junior championships in Canada this month.


ASA spokesman Richard Stander said the national governing body would conduct fitness tests on her in the next day to see if she was ready to compete.
"Caster has been a role model all along," Stander told reporters. "(We) will do everything in our power to assist her and her coach to go and participate wherever she would like to prepare for the international event."
The IAAF said it accepted the findings of an expert medical panel.


"The IAAF accepts the conclusion of a panel of medical experts that she can compete with immediate effect," the sport's ruling body said in a statement.
Lawyers acting for Semenya said the decision to allow her to compete came after a "landmark settlement" between the IAAF and the athlete.
Semenya's lawyer Greg Nott said details of the settlement would remain confidential.
"Our direct negotiations with the IAAF representatives, through the mediator, have been ongoing for 10 months," he said.
"Meetings have been held in Monaco, Istanbul and Paris, but due to the nature of the matter the parties resolved to keep the negotiations confidential."
Semenya's return to competitive athletics was delayed after her comeback event in Zaragoza, Spain was cancelled in May.
ASA had made it clear that Semenya was not banned from competition but said she had to wait for the results of her tests from the IAAF.
Semenya sprung to prominence last year with her rapid improvement over 800 metres. Her winning time in Berlin of one minute 55.45 seconds was the fastest of 2009.
"I think they treated her badly. I'm glad that it is over now," her father Jacob Semenya told Reuters Television.
"I'm very happy that everything is going to be well for Caster now that she will be able to compete again."


http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/06072010/58/iaaf-clear-semenya-compete.html


http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/07072010/58/semenya-run-kenya.html

Well done, that man!

ProgressoR said:

Well done, that man!

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Had to be you.

She is awesome!!

Dilettante said:

Had to be you.

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Yes, if you are a Spanish fan, congrats on the match yesterday, Spain just had too much class, suprised to see Germany just not good enough after their last 2 games.

10 chars

South Africa's world 800 metres champion Caster Semenya won her comeback race after an enforced break of almost a year following controversial gender tests.

Semenya won in two minutes 4.22 seconds in the south-eastern Finnish town of Lappeenranta in her first competitive outing since taking gold in 1:55.45 at the Berlin World Championships last August.

"It is not easy to come and run 2:04 while you stayed for 11 months at home, so yeah, I am pretty happy with the performance," Semenya told Finnish broadcaster YLE.

The 19-year-old is scheduled to compete in Lapinlahti, central Finland, on Sunday before returning to South Africa to build up her fitness.

"The more we race the better we will get," Semenya said when asked what she needed to do to reach a good fitness level.

Her coach has targeted the Commonwealth Games in October for Semenya and Athletics South Africa spokesman Richard Stander was confident she would be competing in New Delhi.

"She definitely looks good for the Commonwealth Games," Stander told Reuters.

"She has three months before the event and she probably only needs about six weeks to get into top form so she has plenty of time to prepare," he added.

Semenya was cleared to compete as a woman by the IAAF on July 6 and because of her lack of race fitness ASA opted not to include her in the teams for this month's World Junior Championships and the African championships.

Stander believed his organisation had made the right choice in not rushing Semenya back into top-flight competition.

"I think it was the right decision by the ASA board not to include her in the teams," he said.

Tina said:

She is awesome!!

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She looks like a he

Semen ya later, alligator

What's her name again?....Semenya??...hmmm... :neutral:

She probably popped a woodie after hearing the good news.

I'm all for rowdy tasteless humor, but some of the comments in this thread are too much even for me. LOL.

Sentinel, so what this means is that Semenya is just a chick that looks like a dude, while genetically being female 100%? Congratulations to her...I guess.

Battery of tests run:
- Take Semenya to a large shoe store. Start a stopwatch. Time elapsed between entrance to shoe store and exit of shoe store no less than 3 hours. Result of test: Pass.

- Take Semenya to an expensive restaurant for romantic diner (gasp.) Do not comment on how pretty she looks at least 20 times. Expect sulking mood and sarcasm about how the fish fillet is so poorly cooked that it required 4 beatings with the fork to be properly subdued.
Result of test: Pass.

- When Semenya is trying pants and she asks whether they make her butt look big, take more than 5 seconds to say "Of course not." Expect violent retaliation involving heavy things being thrown at vital body parts of tester for at least 5 hours thereafter.
Result of test: Pass.

YUP, I guess she was a woman after all.

Werk it, gurl!

Now grab all the medals before they change the rules in order to exclude even those female athletes who are lucky enough to have a dose of manliness without a trace of the accompanying internal "bits and pieces".

Well, the IAAF cleared her so *I GUESS* she does not have a genetic, wait sorry wrong word, she does not have a ???? advantage over others.

Not sure there is such a thing as 100% female. There are varying levels of male hormones present in women, and where you draw the line is subjective.

Nature does not give a flying you-know-what about what we define as female. It keeps changing/mutating/evolving ...

I posted a post recently about the first white man to run a sub 10 sec 100 meters ... that shows how much Africans/blacks have a genetic advantage in some areas such as running. So people at the highest levels do have genetic and other advantages.

Well, i've lost myself ... lol, yes, she's a chick that *to some folks* looks like dude. Forgive me, passing judgments on what Nature/God created is just not my cuppa tea.

Sentinel said:

Well, the IAAF cleared her so *I GUESS* she does not have a genetic, wait sorry wrong word, she does not have a ???? advantage over others.

Not sure there is such a thing as 100% female. There are varying levels of male hormones present in women, and where you draw the line is subjective.

Nature does not give a flying you-know-what about what we define as female. It keeps changing/mutating/evolving ...

I posted a post recently about the first white man to run a sub 10 sec 100 meters ... that shows how much Africans/blacks have a genetic advantage in some areas such as running. So people at the highest levels do have genetic and other advantages.

Well, i've lost myself ... lol, yes, she's a chick that *to some folks* looks like dude. Forgive me, passing judgments on what Nature/God created is just not my cuppa tea.

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Dear Sentinel,

Please be careful when you point out any genetic difference between blacks and whites, as I have done so recently myself, and now somebody in the forum that has always disliked me has taken a personal campaign to accuse me publicly of being a racist:

http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=338838&page=3

P.S.: I hope my humorous remarks about Semenya "looking like a dude" didn't offend you. God/nature does things that sometimes can be perceived as mistakes (as, if I believe correctly, Hitler/Stalin/Dahmer/Bundy/Gacy and other violent animals unworthy of being called men, were created by God.) God's ways are mysterious indeed, and by declaring that a chick looks like a dude, I am making no pronouncement as to her actual beauty (which lies far beneath the superficial layers of epidermis we most often associate with beauty.) Furthermore, I would never say such things if I was aware they may even remotely reach her ears, as I truly do not like hurting people who do not deserve to be hurt.

Regarding the aforementioned issue with a poster calling me racist a few times in a thread despite repeated warnings, is there anything that I can do? I fear that if I tell the gentleman what my thoughts about his moral values and intellectual abilities are, I will be banned for good.

TheLoneWolf said:

Dear Sentinel,

Please be careful when you point out any genetic difference between blacks and whites, as I have done so recently myself, and now somebody in the forum that has always disliked me has taken a personal campaign to accuse me publicly of being a racist:

http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=338838&page=3

P.S.: I hope my humorous remarks about Semenya "looking like a dude" didn't offend you.

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No no, nothing offends me. My remark was general.
Having been a long distance runner, I did know a thing or two about oxygen uptake, as well as muscle composition. Parts of the west coast of africa have a muscle composition that enables them to sprint. East africans (ethiopia, kenya, even morocco .. . Algeria have a different composition, as well as a very high VO2 max).

We like to talk of mental toughness and grit and dedication, but all that only comes after you have the goods. We had a saying that you can't make a donkey run like a horse or racehorse. Said Aouita for example had a VO2 Max of 94 (iirc) whereas most American runners were in the 60's, one or 2 in the 70's. Steve Prefontaine was 70-something only. 94 is huge.

In the 80's, I read reports of muscle biopsies on either Steve Ovett and/or Sebastian Coe (or both). The sheer number of muscle twitch fibers was huge, enabling them to run high-class timings from sprints to long distances. But these, I suspect, are rare cases outside of Africa.

Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

Why would it take almost a year to determine someone's gender unless there was some sort of serious question/issue?

If this article is accurate, I really don't think he/she should be allowed to compete as a woman. Not really fair to the women who have wombs, ovaries, and don't have internal testes. At least make the runner have the testes removed as a condition of competing as a woman.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2009/09/10/2009-09-10_caster_semenya_.html

Fearsome Forehand said:

Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

Why would it take almost a year to determine someone's gender unless there was some sort of serious question/issue?

If this article is accurate, I really don't think he/she should be allowed to compete as a woman. Not really fair to the women who have wombs, ovaries, and don't have internal testes. At least make the runner have the testes removed as a condition of competing as a woman.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2009/09/10/2009-09-10_caster_semenya_.html

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your link is a year old, so we need to give the views there a rest.

What of women who are hairy or have mustaches ? Most older women in my country (who do not wax or pluck) have mustaches - at least as a kid i used to notice that while walking in some poorer sections.

anyway, i have no axe to grind in this. I am glad she can run. Let's not forget that most East European and now even US runners are being caught for steroid usage. At least she's running with what she was born with.

Article might be a year old but apparently the facts stated therein aren't in dispute.

I have nothing against Semenya. But, I don't think it is fair to the women runners who don't have balls to allow Semenya to compete against them.
That seems completely unfair to me.

Anything Semenya accomplishes in track should have a giant asterisk next to it, maybe two giant asterisks.

Maybe they need a special hermaphrodite category in track and field? Too strange to contemplate.

FF Please see pics of semenya. there are no balls or other appendages. Get your facts correct.

Sentinel, sorry if the irreverence was untowed. Did not intent to offend (esp. you of all people).

Dedans Penthouse said:

Sentinel, sorry if the irreverence was untowed. Did not intent to offend (esp. you of all people).

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Mr. Dedan's - I am not offended. I am only sharing my point of view! In any case, i know my POV is in the minority on this issue.

"untowed" ??? Hearing this for the first time. What does it mean ?

Untowed: to undo towing.

I think he means untoward?

Fearsome Forehand said:

Untowed: to undo towing.

I think he means untoward?

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^^^^^^^^
Correct. Sorry for the typo.

And if I were going for 'untowed' it'd be to announce that Semenya and I weren't getting "hitched" as in:

Officiant: "Dedans Penthouse do you take Semenya to be your lawful wedded husband, to have and to hold in sickness or in health, to honor and obey him until the 2012 London Olympics?"

^^^ Lol !!!

Sentinel said:

anyway, i have no axe to grind in this. I am glad she can run. Let's not forget that most East European and now even US runners are being caught for steroid usage. At least she's running with what she was born with.

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What if she i also on steroids?

This is as unfair as it gets to the rest of the field. I would protest it if I was all the other female runners and basically refuse to run in any event where they let a man compete against me.

^ Then you will be rightfully kicked out and another one will take up your place.

The fact of the matter is it is hogwash to accuse her of anything so long as all the means to verify her legitimacy have been applied. And that has happened. Moreover she was cooperative by taking herself out of competition (without being banned) until the tests were all done and completed.

So then, now that she has undergone MORE rigorous checks and tests than her colleagues get on average basis and found to be innocent of any natural or artificial "biological corruption" she fully deserves her place.

One just have to accept that people aren't created equal. Nature isn't Henry Ford (with his conveyor belt and what-not).

End of story
.

jerriy said:

One just have to accept that people aren't created equal. Nature isn't Henry Ford (with his conveyor belt and what-not).

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Thats true people are not created equal and she was born a man or at least with man parts that produce more testosterone. Sorry she was born that way but to allow her to compete is not right. You cant have men at least some kind of man competing against female athletes.

You cant make exceptions to fair competition because you think god works in mysterious ways. You might be giving her a feel good story but you are robbing the rest of the field a chance to complete their dreams. I am glad your political correctness is allowing one person to succeed do to being a an anomaly while the rest of the field might as well all go home.

maverick66 said:

Thats true people are not created equal and she was born a man...

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O'rly?

or at least with man parts...

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LMAO!

And what would those be? Cuz whatever they are they have not been detected

that produce more testosterone.

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Stealth/invisible pair of nuts?

You cant make exceptions to fair competition because you think god works in mysterious ways.

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Your 'g' is lowercase so I wonder if that 'god' of yours is a he or she :mrgreen:

You might be giving her a feel good story

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No I'm giving her what is just cuz I'm fair and balanced.

but you are robbing the rest of the field a chance to complete their dreams.

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No, they just gonna have to beat her fair and square.

I am glad your political correctness is allowing one person to succeed do to being a an anomaly while the rest of the field might as well all go home.

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What is the anomaly? As far as I'm aware of, tests have been conducted and all she's got is what they've got, t*ts, muff, you name it.

jerriy said:

^ Then you will be rightfully kicked out and another one will take up your place.

The fact of the matter is it is hogwash to accuse her of anything so long as all the means to verify her legitimacy have been applied. And that has happened. Moreover she was cooperative by taking herself out of competition (without being banned) until the tests were all done and completed.

So then, now that she has undergone MORE rigorous checks and tests than her colleagues get on average basis and found to be innocent of any natural or artificial "biological corruption" she fully deserves her place.

One just have to accept that people aren't created equal. Nature isn't Henry Ford (with his conveyor belt and what-not).

End of story
.

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Does this person have balls or what. looks like a man

jerriy said:

Your 'g' is lowercase so I wonder if that 'god' of yours is a he or she

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I am not gonna get into a religious talk but not everyone believes in a god.

This wo-man obviously has different parts to her or this would never have come up. The whole reeks of a cover up to let her race. She shouldnt be racing no matter how you put it and to just say everyone is different and special is a load of crap.

Nice post jerriy,

Sorry mav, you are just not making sense. Your opinion of what is feminine, or woman or wo-man etc is entirely your opinion, and just because its also the opinion of a whole bunch of others brought up in the same environment, that does not make it reality.

I am not going by what she looks like. I really dont care if she is pretty or ugly. I am going by the fact that this girl is a no girl. Its like having a man race against women which is very unfair.

oh why do i even bother to post about Castor Semenya !! Sorry guys.

Thread closed. My apologies.

Wow that is incredibly rude. Just because everyone doesnt see the world like you your gonna talk down to us. Sorry I am not as enlightened as you are.

wait mav. don't get me wrong, its just that I mean this is a tennis forum .. why am i posting repeatedly about an athlete anyway.
I;ve already said earlier on that we are all entitled to our opinions. My apology and post was not sarcastic. Sorry if it came across that way.