Monday August 15, 2016
PAGE 29
Kaieteur News
The unfair disadvantage Caster Semenya must endure to compete for Olympic gold (Reuters) RIO DE JANEIRO — It was a Russian runner named Mariya Savinova who said what a lot of people think about Caster Semenya: “Just look at her.” That was after Savinova lost to the South African in the 800-meter final at the 2009 world championships. The suggestion was as stinging as it was prejudiced: Semenya supposedly had an unfair advantage from elevated levels of natural testosterone, and the so-called proof was her masculine looks. Well, a lot has happened since then, and it was Savinova who likely had the unfair advantage. The righteous runner was caught for doping, prompting WADA to recommend a
lifetime ban. Yet it was Semenya who received so much more scrutiny, despite being cleared to compete by the IAAF in 2010 after undergoing a gender test. Savinova’s insinuations represent one of many troubling episodes in the career of Semenya, arguably the most ridiculed Olympic athlete of our times. Just recently, Paula Radcliffe, the world record holder in the women’s marathon, said a gold medal for Semenya in Rio would mean “it’s no longer sport and no longer an open race.” Semenya is poised to be one of the major stories of these Games, a serious threat to break the 33-year-old world record in the 800 meters, and many people are set to shelve
India’s Sharma and West Indies’ Bravo fined for verbal exchanges (Reuters) - India’s Rohit Sharma and West Indies’ Darren Bravo have been fined 15 percent of their match fees after a series of heated verbal exchanges during the final day’s play in the third test in St Lucia, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said on Sunday. India crushed the hosts by 237 runs on the fifth and final day on Saturday to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the fourmatch series, bowling out West Indies for 108, the second lowest score by the side against India at home. “On the final morning of the match, Bravo and Sharma ignored numerous requests and instructions from the umpires to stop verbally engaging with each other in a manner that was not in keeping with the spirit of the game,” the ICC said in a brief statement. Both players had admitted their offence and accepted the fine imposed by match referee Ranjan Madugalle and there was no need for formal hearings, the statement added.
RESULTS Regional Under-19 Championship — 50 overs, 3rd round KINGSTOWN, St Vincent, CMC — Selected results from the third round of matches in the WICB Regional One Day Under-19 Championships here Saturday. Scores: At Arnos Vale Playing Field: Leewards beat Guyana by 30 runs. LEEWARDS 222-9 (Tyrone Williams 69, Ross Powell 38, Kofi James 32; Akenis Adams 2-41,Bhaskar Yadram 228) vs GUYANA 192 all out (Joshua Persaud 44,Bhaskar Yadram 44;Kian Pemberton 4-29,Camron Pennyfeather 329). At Park Hill Playing Field: Trinidad and Tobago beat ICC Americas by 151 runs. TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO 279-9 (Kirstan Kallicharan 78, Jonathan Bootan 32, Keagan Simmons 28, Bryan Boodram 26; Aran Pathmanathan 2-39,Rommel Shahzad 270) vs ICC Americas 128 all out (Abrassh Khan 50; Jarlanie Seales 4-33, Negus Smith 3-40). At Sion Hill Playing Field: Windward beat Barbados by three wickets. BARBADOS 178 all out ( Shemer Springer 63 Joshua Bishop 35;Ryan John 3-30, Jonathan Taylor 3-28) vs WINDWARDS 181-7 (Emmanuel Stewart 54,Ryan John 49 not out; Joshua Bishop 3-35,Tremaine Harris 2-35, Deswain Currency 2-29).
scientific research in favor of bias and fear. According to one study, “there is no clear scientific evidence proving that a high level of T is a significant determinant of performance in female sport.” And even if an advantage was somehow proven, it shouldn’t change Semenya’s ability to compete against other women. “I think it’s unfair,” said Yale senior research scientist Myron Genel, who has been studying this subject for decades and serves on the IOC medical commission. “There are a number of athletes who have at one time or another been in the spotlight because they have excelled and have had one or another disorder that’s related to sexual development. It’s hard to say that is the only reason why they excelled.” Genel published a paper last week in the Journal of the American Medical Association,taking this topic on directly. “Genetic conditions that enhance performance in sport include congenital mutations of the erythropoietin receptor gene leading to high levels of hemoglobin, which does not disqualify athletes,” Genel wrote. “There is no fundamental difference between congenital disorders leading to elevated testosterone levels, functional or not, and an erythropoietin receptor mutation leading to high hemoglobin.” Put simply, there’s no reason for “congenital disorders leading to elevated testosterone levels” to disqualify athletes when genetic conditions leading to high levels of hemoglobin
don’t. Genel points to other athletes who have had genetic differences, including Michael Phelps, with his supreme flexibility and enormous feet. It’s never suggested that Phelps should step aside for the shorter Ryan Lochte because of something he can’t control. Nor is it suggested that, say, Kevin Durant should remove himself from the Olympics because he’s too close to the basketball rim. Also, consider all the advantages certain athletes are granted without any work: wealthy parents, a city with many resources, a country with support for budding athletes, a community with excellent teachers and coaches. Of course, hard work is crucial and revered, but the Olympics would look very different if hard work was the only variable in athletic success. The problem is that most differences are celebrated. For
instance, Katie Ledecky is praised for swimming “like a guy”, while Semenya’s differences are abhorrent to a vocal chorus of competitors and fans. And, as Genel notes, there always seems to be extra criticism for track athletes, though the reasons aren’t quite clear. “The celebrated cases have all been in track and field,” he says. “It might be the sport apparel; it’s certainly more revealing. Female athletes appear to be more masculine to some competitors.” That’s a delicate way of saying that women are judged more harshly than men. Which isn’t new, of course. But it has reached an extreme in Semenya’s case. As Stanford ethicist Katrina Karkazis puts it, “I have never seen an athlete who has done nothing wrong so vilified in the media.” One example: The Guardian published a story calling Semenya a “ticking
time bomb”and suggested the “reaction to her success would reignite uncomfortable debates from the past.” Something so incendiary – “time bomb” and “reignite” don’t connote calm reason – does far more to stir up fear than a runner’s success. And who is made uncomfortable exactly? Fans at home? Media? Competitors? Perhaps that discomfort is misplaced and should be reserved for dopers like Savinova. “These are a handful of women [with naturally higher testosterone],” Genel says. “Meanwhile, you’ve got doping incidents that are estimated at 35 percent.” The issue of high T-levels “has been blown way out of proportion to its incidence.” It is to Semenya’s credit that she runs on, set to win a gold medal that will surely cause her more stress to go with her triumph. She has already been, in her own words, “subjected to unwarranted and invasive scrutiny of the most intimate and private details of my being … [that] infringed on not only my rights as an athlete but also my fundamental and human rights including my rights to dignity and privacy.” No male athlete ever has had to deal with this kind of gender-specific shaming. Whatever unproven advantage Semenya might have has also come with a terrible burden. We should be giving more attention to her disadvantage: chasing her dreams under a constant assault on her body and her spirit.
St John’s, ANTIGUA – The West Indies Benevolent Fund, also known as the West Indies Retired Players Foundation is targeting March 2017 to host a massive event to release information on all players who have represented this region in international cricket. This event will coincide with the 2017 tour of the West Indies by England for three one-day internationals in Antigua and Barbados. Chairman of the Fund, Dr Nigel Camacho revealed, “We are looking at initiatives which we hope to have completed by year end, which includes the complete
database with all the retired players for West Indies. This is critical for us and we plan to get this done as one of our major projects for this year.” To date, there have been 307 players in the Test format; 171 in ODI and 63 for Twenty20. Since its inception in 2014, the Fund has hosted a number of events since its inception to include launches in at least five countries and a golf tournament which was held in Barbados last year which raised funds to assist several retired players. The Fund has disbursed US$15,000 in various pledges. The directors along with
Camacho, carrying on the work of this WICB initiative, are Major Radcliffe Daley (Jamaica); Sanjay Amin (Barbados); Nixon McLean and Wavell Hinds (WIPA). Among the activities planned in the upcoming year are: · Fundraising dinner · Outreach – public
awareness to collate information for the retired players’ database The Chairman added that “an advertising campaign will be done to complete the database.” The next fundraising event is a golf tournament scheduled for the Cayman Islands later this year.
Caster Semenya
West Indies Benevolent Fund targets March for Massive event