The Semenya cover up

The Times reports:

South Africa’s sports ministry today called for the sacking of the country’s top athletics administrator after he admitted that he lied about two gender tests carried out on Caster Semenya.

Semenya, 18, won the women’s 800 metres final a month ago at the world athletics championships in Germany, but questions were immediately asked about her husky voice, muscular frame and other apparent male characteristics.

South Africa’s outrage, which until Saturday had been directed at the foreign media for daring to question whether Semenya’s gold medal had been won legitimately, today swivelled heavily towards Leonard Chuene, president of Athletics South Africa. …

Mr Chuene admitted that he had ignored the advice of ASA team doctor Harold Adams to pull Semenya from her event before Berlin. He also made the extraordinary allegation that he met with IAAF commissioners before Semanya’s world championship gold medal run and that they had suggested to him that she fake an injury to withdraw from the race and thus avoid all the worldwide publicity that would inevitably follow if she won. …

“It is slowly emerging that she has been abused, deceived and shamefully exploited. She was sent to race by men and women who knew that serious questions were being asked and probably could not be satisfactorily answered, but whose lust for gold trumped any concern for her well-being.

This is the tragedy. The 18 year old has had to face global humiliation, which could have been avoided if the South African officials has not done a cover up.

Cheune’s labelling of media scrutiny as racist is exposed as a deplorable playing of the race card to cover up his own lies and manipulation.