Monday, September 21, 2009
Caster Semenya
When the name Caster Semenya was first talked about in class, I thought who in the world is that. When a picture was shown of her on the slides, I thought it was some track male athlete runner. When we were told it was a femal, I about jumped out of my seat. I took interest in the story and its been really weird to follow the past couple of days. First she wins the gold medal in the 800 in Berlin. Then questions are asked about her gender and tests are ordered on her. Now we found out that South African officials knew all along her gender might pose a problem. It has been leaked that over a year ago tests were done on her by South African Officials, and the team doctor advised her to drop out. The South Africa Goverment is now getting involved, causing her coach to resign. The forgotten one to me seems to Semenya, the center of this storm. Shes in hiding embrassed and depressed about the entire situation. To me it seems like her country was so desperate to win that race that it threw Semenya to the wolves, fully knowing what fate might await the talented runner. I ask you guys if you think gender has a role in this and if it was a man would the governement had acted differently
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You made such a great observation when you said: "The forgotten one to me seems to Semenya, the center of this storm." The fact that the South African government might have been cognizant of the end result, and yet used this 18-year old for nationalistic gains is even more astounding. As unique as this case may be, there is a vulnerable human being, whose feelings seem to have been largely overlooked. Good insights!
ReplyDeleteNow that her secret has came out and she is under suicide watch, I wonder do people feel bad for lashing out at her the way they did. She is still 18 years old, I rememeber at that age everything seemed so raw and unknown. She still has much to learn about the world and life and now look at her, she went from being a world champion to being a potential suicide victim. I think the media should be ashamed of theirselves.
ReplyDeleteI had not even thought about this story in that light. You make a great point, though. Her government did just toss her into the middle of a situation that had the potential to turn into a giant mess, and did just that. I think that the media is going to pick up on any story that will boost ratings and readership, and an international, olympic, gender scandal defnitely fits the bill. People definitely should have handled the entire situation with a little more class and discretion.
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