The Cougar

After all of the controversy over her gender, Caster Semenya has been allowed to keep her medal for now. The young 18 year-old won a gold medal at this year’s world championships. Soon after the incident, she was questioned about her gender.

A gender test showed that she is intersex, a type of DSD or developmental sex disorder. An intersex individual is someone that is born with both male and female reproductive organs. In Semenya’s case, she has internal testes. The International Association of Athletic Federation’s dilemma is that she has male organs but won in a woman’s category. These organs produce high levels of testosterone, giving her a huge advantage. Males produce testosterone about 20 times more than women. It is a steroid hormone that increases bone density and all around strength.

Semenya was reported saying in an interview that she’s proud to be the person god made her, she’s proud of her achievements, and she is a woman. In a press conference, she was reported as saying, “I don’t want to talk about the test. I’m not even thinking about them.” Investigations are still under way by the IAAF, but the question still remains if she should keep her gold medal for good.