Track Runs Into Controversy

Into an increasingly confusing sports world in which fans judge ballplayers based on whether they are known steroid users or not, comes the strange story of South African runner Caster Semenya. Australian newspapers reported that gender testing on the 18-year-old shows that she has both male and female sexual characteristics. The allegations about the women’s 800-meter champion sparked outrage from South Africa’s sports minister, who reacted to the media frenzy using the term “third world war.” Even the ex-wife of former President Nelson Mandela, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, opined by telling South Africa’s Star newspaper, “The poor innocent child is a victim of all this, and it is not of her making. I do not understand how any sane person can blame this child for a biological problem which is not of her making."