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April 2011 — IAAF Passes New Policy on Gender Verification

Intersex, All, Community, Sport / Caster Semenya, IAAF, IOC

In April 2011 the events of Caster Semenya’s gender verification spiralled into an international debate about intersex* conditions and gender, resulting in the IAAF passing a new policy on gender verification, making the tests more specific to suspected cases of ‘hyperandrogenism’ in elite female athletes. The IAAF (International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of …

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August 2009 — Trans and Intersex Rights Groups Respond to Public Debate About Caster Semenya, South Africa

Intersex, All, Community, Organisation, Sport / Amanda Lock Swarr, Caster Semenya, GDX, Gender DynamiX, Intersex Society of South Africa, ISSA, Liesl Theron, Sally Gross, South Africa, Tebogo Nkoana

In August 2009, Intersex South Africa (ISSA)’s Sally Gross, U.S. academic Amanda Lock Swarr, and Gender DynamiX (GDX)’s Liesl Theron co-authored a critical think piece that was published in the Fall edition of the Feminist Studies Journal. The piece, “South African Intersex Activism: Caster Semenya’s Impact and Import”, looks at the public responses from ISSA …

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August 2009 — Caster Semenya: Gold Medals, Gender Verification Tests, and Her Journey Since Then, South Africa

Intersex, All, Community, Publications, Sport / Caster Semenya, Gender Testing, IAAF, South Africa, World Athletics

In August 2009, the world was introduced to South African track athlete Caster Semenya as she won the 800m World Championships in Berlin, Germany and simultaneously came under public scrutiny over her eligibility to compete in women’s sport.

She improved on her 800m and 1500m records achieved at the 2008 World Junior Championships. The International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), now known as World Athletics, asserted that it felt compelled to carry out investigations on Semenya’s performance and sex after she improved her record by 25 seconds in the 1500m track event, and by 7 seconds in the 800m track race. They claimed that “this sort of dramatic breakthrough usually aroused the suspicion of drug use.”

August 2007 — IAAF Requires Gender Verification Tests for Botswana Athlete

Intersex, All, Community, Sport, Trans / Botswana, Gender Testing, gender verification, IAAF, Paul Morama, World Athletics

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 …

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9 February 2003 — Zimbabwe Unwittingly Represented by a Trans Woman at the Cricket World Cup, South Africa

Community, All, Sport, Trans / Barbara Diop, Zimbabwe

South Africa hosted the 2003 Cricket World Cup, and on 9 February 2003. During the Parade of Nations and as part of the opening ceremony, the event’s organisers appointed models to walk in the parade, holding banners to represent each participating country. Senegalese-born model, Barbara Diop, had done modelling work in South Africa (she moved …

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