Gold medallist Paralympian, Tshotlego* Morama (now Paul Morama) from Botswana underwent gender verification tests in August 2007 after a win in the 800m and 400m races at the Africa Senior Championships in Mozambique. There had already been a media spectacle in Botswana over Morama’s gender/sex (these two terms are used synonymously in Botswana) as Morama was assigned the female gender at birth. 

As a medal-winning athlete at the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, Morama was already on the IAAF’s (International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations, now known as World Athletics) radar, and when they learned about the tests performed at the 2007 Africa Championships and the media spectacle that had surrounded Morama, the IAAF decided to perform their own gender verification tests on him. The IAAF tests showed a variation in Morama’s sex characteristics and determined that he has an intersex condition. 

Morama was the first and remains the only, athlete to represent Botswana at the Paralympics. 

* This is the first name under which Morama’s gold medal and Olympic accomplishments are listed in online searches, so we are forced to use his deadname (previous name before coming out and living as trans), but we acknowledge him as Paul Morama.