Most champions have been freaks of nature

Competitive sport is not as unfair as the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) would like us to believe. If it was, nobody would watch it.

Ian Thorpe, one of the best swimmers Australia has produced, was a marvel to watch. But as hard as he must have trained, he would never have been as fast as he was in the pool if he did not have feet that required size 17 shoes. Competing with natural flippers, Thorpe did not shatter records because he was an average man who was simply more committed than others, but rather because he possessed the hands and feet of a giant.

Similarly, American legend Michael Phelps had a remarkably large lung capacity.

Phelps did not win 23 Olympic titles because he wanted to more than his opponents, and as hard as he must have worked for his success, he was a phenomenon because he too had the physical attributes of a natural born freak.

Spanish cyclist Miguel Indurain must have gritted his teeth every day and fought with every inch of power in his body, but he would not have won the Tour de France five times if he did not have a resting heart rate of 28 beats per minute.

Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt should not have possessed the necessary fast twitch fibres required to carry his tall frame to lightning fast times, but his size offered him a massive stride length which overcame the deficit.

Indurain and Bolt were also freaks, and like Thorpe and Phelps, they were not shunned by the global sporting community

Wesley Bo on

due to their physical abnormalities. They were instead celebrated for their achievements.

Basketball players are unusually tall, while powerlifters are unbelievably strong, and without those attributes they wouldn’t do very well in those sports, so we applaud their natural abilities.

The exception, it seems, Caster Semenya.

Yes, she too is a freak, and her elevated levels of natural testosterone make her one of the best athletes to watch on the international circuit. is

Greek pole vaulter Katerina Stefanidi, speaking after the new IAAF hyperandrogenism rule was announced, suggested this week that the IAAF may as well ask taller athletes to chop off their legs to ensure fair competition between athletes with equal natural ability.

It was a tongue-in-cheek comment but a valid point nonetheless. Professional sport is only really exciting because we get to watch awesome athletes with freakish physical attributes which assist them in running faster and jumping higher than the rest of us average Jeans and Joes.

It seems the IAAF has a hidden card it has not yet played, and the global governing body remains confident it has made the right decision in approving its new regulations, despite Athletics SA threatening legal action if it does not scratch the rule.

At this stage, the IAAF’s reasoning is simply bizarre, insisting middle-distance runners receive an advantage from natural testosterone which athletes in other disciplines do not, and it’s hardly a surprise that they have been accused of everything from sexism to racism.

It’s hard to see how Semenya is not being targeted, with this rule seemingly directed at sidelining her from international competition.

The rule won’t come into effect until November, so we’ll have at least six more months to witness Semenya burning up global tracks at her natural best.

After that, if she is forced to slow down so her opponents can catch up, we’ll have to ask ourselves whether the races are worth watching at all.