{"id":103963,"date":"2016-08-21T07:03:10","date_gmt":"2016-08-21T15:03:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=103963"},"modified":"2016-08-21T07:08:03","modified_gmt":"2016-08-21T15:08:03","slug":"caster-semenya-wins-800m-beaten-gb-finalist-lynsey-sharp-criticises-rule-changes-over-obvious-hyperandrogenous-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=103963","title":{"rendered":"Caster Semenya wins 800m: beaten GB finalist Lynsey Sharp criticises rule changes over ‘obvious’ hyperandrogenous women"},"content":{"rendered":"

REPORT<\/a>: Britain’s Lynsey Sharp has commented on reports of multiple intersex athletes in the Olympic women’s 800m final, saying there were “obvious” rivals who made competing “difficult”.<\/p>\n

Caster Semenya – who has sparked controversy over her hyperandrogenism, meaning her testosterone levels are higher than most women and more similar to men’s – won gold last night amid criticisms over the fairness of the race.<\/p>\n

Sharp spoke out about the “difficulty” of competing with “the obvious” athletes in what she has previously called “two separate races”.<\/p>\n

South African Caster, 25, was followed by Francine Niyonsaba of Burundi and Kenya’s Margaret Wambui – with Sharp finishing sixth, in a personal best of one minute 57.69 seconds.<\/p>\n

Before the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, Sharp told The Daily Telegraph, there were “obvious” athletes with heightened testosterone amid rumours that there were two more hyperandrogenous competitors running in last night’s final.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone can see it\u2019s two separate races so there\u2019s nothing I can do,\u201d she said earlier this summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you take away the obvious ones it\u2019s actually really competitive,\u201d she added. \u201cFor me, it\u2019s not a new thing running against those girls. I\u2019ve competed against Caster since 2008 so it\u2019s nothing new for me.”<\/p>\n

\"106451819_epa05504146_Caster_Semenya_R_of_South_Africa_reacts_next_to_Melissa_Bishop_L_of_Canada_and-large_trans++plGOf-dgG3z4gg9owgQTXAsIcagKWDTsYii0WZbrxoU\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Caster<\/a>

Caster Semenya of South Africa celebrates after she won in the women’s 800 metres final during the world athletics championships at the Olympic stadium in Berlin, August 19, 2009. REUTERS\/Michael Dalder (GERMANY SPORT ATHLETICS) BEST QUALITY AVAILABLE<\/p><\/div>\n

THE GUARDIAN<\/a>: Indignation was swelling in Semenya\u2019s breast. And when she let it rise, what poured forth was more than extraordinary. Asked how, exactly, she felt she had made a difference to her sport she replied: \u201cI think it is all about loving one another. It\u2019s not about discriminating against people. It is not about looking at how people look, how they speak, how they run, it is not about being muscular. It is all about sport. When you walk out of your apartment you think about performing, you do not think about how your opponent looks. So I think the advice from me to everybody is just to go out there and have fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

So many South Africans have united behind Semenya, using the twitter hashtag #handsoffcaster. Listening to her talk it was clear they are motivated by much more than chauvinism.<\/p>\n

Inspiring as Semenya\u2019s words were, the truth is that her competitors don\u2019t all think like she does. Britain\u2019s Lynsey Sharp, who finished sixth, was congratulated on Twitter by her team-mate, Nigel Levine, who wrote \u201cHappy for Lynsey Sharp for coming 3rd in women 800m\u201d.<\/p>\n

Sharp, who wrote a paper on Semenya while she was studying at law school, has seemed to struggle to contain her emotions this week. On the BBC, Paula Radcliffe explained why she felt Sharp was so upset. \u201cHowever hard she goes away and trains, however hard Jenny Meadows goes and trains, they are never going to be able to compete with that level of strength and recovery that those levels of elevated testosterone brings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Radcliffe said that Semenya and the other hyperandrogenic women should either \u201ctake the medication to suppress the levels, or they choose to have an operation or they choose not to compete\u201d. Incredible as this sounds, Radcliffe is right that several hyperandrogenic athletes have undergone major surgery at the behest of athletics officials.<\/p>\n

In 2013 it was revealed that four young female athletes from developing countries, all with atypically high but entirely natural levels of testosterone, were sent to a clinic in France where doctors proposed removing their gonads and partially removing their clitorises. All four agreed, and a year later they returned to competition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

REPORT: Britain’s Lynsey Sharp has commented on reports of multiple intersex athletes in the Olympic women’s 800m final, saying there were “obvious” rivals who made competing “difficult”. Caster Semenya – who has sparked controversy over her hyperandrogenism, meaning her testosterone … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29595],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-olympics-2"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t