Posted on 08/25/2009 11:18:03 AM PDT by Steelfish
New twist in Semenya gender saga
By Gordon Farquhar BBC sports news correspondent
Tests have revealed Caster Semenya's testosterone level to be three times higher than those normally expected in a female sample, BBC Sport understands.
Analysis prior to the World Athletics Championships and the 18-year-old's big improvement prompted calls for a gender test from the sport's governing body.
It was made public only hours before the South African, who has been backed by her nation, won the 800m in Berlin.
A high level of the hormone does not always equate to a failed drugs test.
But the news will only increase speculation surrounding Semenya, who arrived back in South Africa to a rapturous welcome on Tuesday.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
*sigh*
With the name SeMENya, it should be obvious! ;-)
ooops... she didn’t use a masking agent. She’s not a “he” but is probably using testosterone.
From the Telegraph........
“Telegraph Sport can also reveal that the head coach of the South African team is Dr Ekkart Arbeit, the former East German coach who was accused by a female athlete of giving her so many anabolic steroids that she was forced to undergo a sex-change operation and live the rest of her life as a man.”
Yeah, uhhhhh, she don’t look like no woman to me.
But then again, neither do Michelle Obama.
Or Venus and Serena Williams.
Or Whoopi Manberg.
Or ALL of the female basketball players that Imus may or may not have commented on.
Oh and the name. Se-MEN-ya works. Semen-ya also works.
'Arbeit' in German means 'work', which this "coach" is obviously a piece of...
That's a man , baby!
Good thing she wasn’t racing in the Tour de France. This would’ve been considered a positive indicator of steroid use.
“ooops... she didn’t use a masking agent.”
How do you mask a sausage and meatballs?LOL
Well she is either using illegal ‘roids OR she ain’t a she. Either way her medal is TOAST
So what’s the cause? Some sort of physiological/genetic abnormality or something that was introduced into his/her body?
She is... unfortunate looking, but does she have a va-jay-jay or not? Does she have a normal level of estrogen and LH?
the va-jay-jay is an easy one to check. As far as the estrogen and LH levels.. well my friend it's a little more complicated and simpler than that.
Because labs are able to pick up levels of hormones and other stimulating hormones you have to test for levels of the testosterone and review it in relation to other precursors and stimulating hormones so that you can see if someone is taking "natural" testosterone/estrogen/growth hormone/thyroid hormone or whatever and see if it matches the normal ration of levels in the human body.
Gets kinda dicey. Lots of variables and athletes and trainers use the same biochemists and doctors that the athletic organizations do.. so it's a big cat and mouse game.
“A high level of the hormone does not always equate to a failed drugs test. “
Unless you’re Lance Armstrong.
I’m sure she has a va-jay-jay, that’s the easy part.
You’re right on the hormones though, there are many female athletes that have unusually high testosterone levels that are none the less natural.
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