‘God made me this way’
ISTILL can’t believe that the Olympic Games are over. I don’t know but to me it just seems if you blinked you would have missed it. A lot of people thought Rio de Janeiro would pull it off. Well they sure did - albeit with some hiccups but with all the achievements in the arena’s itself some could be overlooked.
There will always be those notorious moments which will always be associated with the host city. This time around I think for me it will be the green swimming pool. There is quite a few theories as to how it got that way, but I doubt if the mystery has been solved. It’s too late now anyway.
But, the good moments that stand out for me is Wayde van Niekerk breaking the 400m world record, Usain Bolt winning the triple, Luvo Manyonga,Henri Schoeman and the men’s rowing pair of Shaun Keeling and Lawrence Brittain. Then we have Akani Simbine who ran a brilliant 100m. I don’t think anybody running this distance even stands a chance against the Bolt’s, (Justin) Gatlin’s, and (Andre) de Grasse’s of this world. But young Simbine proved us wrong and give this young man a year or so and I’m convinced he will be right up there. His fifth, in my eyes, is a medal-winning performance.
As some commentators have said if he had been given a change to run in the 200m, he would definitely have come back with a medal.
With his performance and some others who gave their absolute best, I definitely concur that this is by far South Africa’s best Olympic Games – EVER!
However, I was trying to avoid the issue because I honestly didn’t think there was one. I thought it was cleared up in 2010 already.
Why is it that whenever Caster Semenya runs a big one like the Olympic Games and World Championship that there is always someone who questions her gender?
Why she was even subjected to the humiliation of a gender test – I still can not comprehend even seven years later.
She didn’t choose to be born with hyperandrogenism, a genetic condition. There are other sport people who have medical conditions and nobody bats an eye.
So should Semenya not do something she obviously loves very much just because in the eyes of some “she has an extra advantage”?
Well Lyndsey Sharp who finished sixth in the 800m final thinks so. Sharp, the British runner who came sixth, tearfully announced that she hadn’t had a chance at victory after a decision by sports authorities not to force Semenya and other athletes with hyperandrogenism to take drugs to reduce their testosterone levels.
And Brit Sebastian Coe, head of the international athletics federation, agrees and said the organisation would continue to fight for a ruling to force athletes with hyperandrogenism to take drugs or have surgery – and he is confident of succeeding.
I’m sorry but I just don’t see how anybody can expect a person to change their gender just because this person runs faster and obviously puts in the training to go with it?
How dare you Seb Coe when your ascendancy to president of the IAF has been questioned?
I applaud Semenya for the way she has handled herself again. She has refused to talk about the condition, saying only that “God made me the way I am and I accept myself ”.
If she has accepted herself, why can’t others?