An examination to verify the gender of champion sprinter Caster Semenya would involve multiple tests, a sports medicine doctor said on Thursday.
”[An examination] could involve a gynaecologist, internal medicine, geneticist, endocrinologist and a psychologist,” said Ross Tucker, a doctor affiliated with the Sports Science Institute of South Africa.
Eighteen-year-old Semenya won the 800m at the World Athletics Championship in Berlin, Germany on Wednesday — in the fastest time in the world this year at one minute 55,45 seconds.
The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) ordered a gender verification test for Semenya a few weeks ago.
This followed public scrutiny of Semenya’s masculine facial features, her powerful running style and complaints by rival teams.
But this will be no simple matter. A gender verification test requires a wide range of expertise because of the modern complexities of determining gender.
Gender testing began in the 1960s, said Tucker, and was limited to a physical examination of external genitalia. The efficacy of this was, however, limited because genitalia is not the defining characteristic of gender.
”That alone doesn’t distinguish people who have external genitalia of one gender but other characteristics of another gender,” said Tucker.
Later, in the 1980s, physical examinations were given up in favour of chromosomal testing. Generally, women possess two ‘X’ chromosomes, XX, and men both an ‘X’ and a ‘Y’, XY. However, in some rare cases women will only possess a single X chromosome, or some men might also possess a Y chromosome leaving them XXY.
Athletic officials then started using genetic testing. They would look for genes that were specific to either gender. But again this also had limitations, as women who tested positive for ”male” genes might still have most of the physical characteristics of women.
”The physical examinations did not do the job properly, and the chromosomal examination did not do the job properly,” said Tucker.
For this reason, officials began to use a wide array of examinations with multiple experts.
It is not yet known when the results of the tests requested by the IAAF will be known.
Semenya’s case in some ways mirrors that of Indian sprinter Santhi Soundarajan.
In 2006, Soundarajan won a silver medal in the Asian Games.
Following complaints by other teams, a gender verification test followed which found she ”does not possess the sexual characteristics of a woman”. Soundarajan was stripped of her medal.
”I can’t think of anything worse. They live their whole lives as females and its only when they compete [that they find out],” said Tucker.
The result can be traumatic. Soundarajan later reportedly attempted to commit suicide.
Tucker said this was why a psychologist was part of the examination, to provide counselling for an athlete should the result challenge their gender identity.
Despite the current furore, gender verification testing is less common than it once was.
It was abandoned in the 1990s for a variety of reasons, not least that it was considered ”defamatory and discriminatory”, said Tucker.
However, the test can be called into use if other teams file complaints or if an athlete’s physical appearance calls her gender into question.
Though Semenya is a relatively new figure on the South African athletics landscape, Tucker said she has already been attracting controversy in the sprinting world.
”My understanding is that people have questioned [her] in this country and these allegations have followed her,” he said.
”It was nothing new and entirely predictable.” — Sapa