Hermaphrodites in the Olympics

This morning I woke up and turned on the news while I was getting ready and there was a South African woman who won the 800 meter race at the 2009 Berlin Olympics earlier this year. Her name is Caster Semenya she is 18 and won the race by a landslide. Because her performance was astounding and her voice is very deep, however, the IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federation) asked her to submit gender test. The official results of the test will not be released until November after they are checked and given to Semenya. But the information was leaked to a newspaper and showed that she has testosterone levels three times higher than what women should have. This would make her a hermaphrodite, a woman with both male and female sex organs.
Because she is not technically a woman, should she be allowed to have the gold medal for the women’s 800 meter race? This is the major question for the IAAF right now. They say they are going to let her keep it but give another gold medal to the runner up. This situation is probably going to start all kinds of controversy over what should be considered a woman or man in the Olympics and if hermaphrodites should be allowed to compete. I believe that they should but whether they compete in women’s or men’s competition should depend on their testosterone levels to prevent unfair advantages like Semenya had.



http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/09/11/2683465.htm?section=world