When a well-built Maria Mutola of Mozambique, a former footballer, burst into the athletics arena in the late 1980s, her gender was immediately questioned in Europe.
Little did she know that it was something she would have to live with for the greater part of her fantastic career as arguably the best 800m runner of all time.
About 20 years later another African athlete finds herself subjected to the same scrutiny. South African and new 800m world champion Mokgadi ”Caster” Semenya’s gender is being questioned in Europe, sparking outrage back home.
Zithulele Sinqe, the 1996 and 1997 Two Oceans Marathon winner, is among the growing number of South Africans livid at the treatment of Semenya, who stormed to victory in the Berlin Athletics World Championships with a remarkable time of 1:55:45 — the fastest this year.
Reports, emanating mostly from Australian and English media, imply that Semenya may be a cheat — a man running a women’s race.
The basis of their speculation is that the teenager has masculine features, such as facial hair and a deep voice and is well built.
The same argument was advanced about Mutola’s gender. The Mozambican middle-distance runner, like Semenya, was subjected to all sorts of scrutiny before she rose above the abuse to dominate the 800m for close to a decade.
On Wednesday night the young girl followed in the steps of the great Mutola, remaining focused on her race and showing the field a clean pair of heels. Not even the English commentator, who concentrated on third-placed Briton Jenny Meadows, could deny Semenya the glory she deserved.
Sinqe is under no illusion about the 18-year-old world champion’s sex. His daughter, Zinhle, shares a room with Semenya at Pretoria University, where the teenage girls are studying sports science.
”What is happening to this girl is very traumatic. I know she is a woman. She does not only share a room with my daughter, but the two girls also train and shower together,” he told the Mail & Guardian.
Even before she arrived on the track for the final Sinqe was convinced that Semenya would put in a gold-medal performance.
”If they think that this [issue of her gender] will distract her from the job at hand, then they better think again, because she is used to all the doubts about her being a woman,” he said.
”She is even sometimes stopped and told to use the men’s toilet in public places here at home, which is a shame, really.”
He pleaded with the South African public to support her in the face of the assault by the foreign media.
”It is important that we all make her feel loved and appreciated on her return home, like a true hero.”
Instead of celebrating her win, Semenya appeared to be weighed down by the media reports. For somebody who had just run the fastest time of the year and come close to breaking the world record of 1:53.28, set 26 years ago, she appeared subdued.
Nick Davis, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) spokesperson, agreed that eyebrows had been raised about her times.
What the critics overlook, perhaps, is that she is still about two seconds off the world record and that the gap between her and the chasing pack says more about the poor field than about her gender.
Semenya’s coach at Pretoria University, Michael Seme, was equally outraged at the way the IAAF had handled the controversy when the M&G spoke to him just hours before the final.
”I have been working with Caster since January and I can tell you that I have been training a girl, not a boy.”
He alleged that the timing of the reports of gender verification tests hours before the final were an attempt to break her concentration.
What angers him is that it isn’t the first time Semenya has competed on the international stage. She won gold last month in the World Junior Championships in Mauritius with another breathÂÂtaking time of 1:56.72.
It is difficult to imagine that her time would have been allowed to stand without the athlete being subjected to rigorous IAAF examinations.
Besides the drug tests, gender screening would have been the natural route at such a prestigious meeting for any female junior athlete whose time exceeded expectations.
According to reports on Media24, the IAAF asked Athletics South Africa (ASA) to conduct a gender-screening test on her.
But ASA president Leonard Chuene refuted this allegation and said that she had not undergone further gender tests in Berlin before her race.
”I am here in camp with her and the only tests that she took were the mandatory drugs tests after the heats and semifinals. This is just media speculation,” said Chuene.
Sinqe said his daughter had phoned him ”two days before the team left for Berlin to tell me that Caster had been taken away for gender-verification tests”.
”I checked with her coach and he seemed aware of the developments,” he said.
Sinqe said the coach told him this was standard practice in the sport and even Kenyans were subjected to the same tests.
”Caster loves football and I am worried that all this harassment will make her hate athletics and turn our only great athlete to football.
”She is our Usain Bolt and we should emulate the Jamaicans by taking pride in her achievements,” he said.
The ANC has also jumped to the defence of Semenya.
”We call on all South Africans to rally behind our golden girl and shrug off negative and unwarranted questions about her gender.
”We condemn the motives of those who have made it their business to question her gender due to her physique and running style.
”Such comments can only serve to portray women as being weak.
”Caster is not the only woman athlete with a masculine build and the IAAF should know better,” the party said.