Male or Female? Athlete Fails Gender Test

Shanti Sounderajan won the silver medal in the women’s 800 metres at the Asian Games only to be disqualified for failing the gender test. The WHAT? The gender test. Naïve as it may sound, it hadn’t occurred to me that anyone would even so much as think it necessary to gender test someone. Not being much of a sports fan, I’m ignorant on this particular subject.

The Indian Olympic Association has asked the Athletic Federation of India to return the medal.

I found out that gender tests are done by a medical evaluation panel that generally includes a gynecololgist, an endocrinologist, physchologist and internal medicine specialist.

Soudnerajan appeared to have more “Y” chromosomes than allowed.

Gender testing was evidently first implemented at the 1966 European Track and Field Championships, where they required women athletes to walk nude or almost nude before judges. Over the years, the gender testing evolved to physical examinations and then chromosome tests. But how accurate even are these tests?

Here is an interesting interactive study of Gender Testing of Female Athletes

This also begs the question. Is there really such a thing as a sex-change operation? I’ve always been skeptical. I think the better term would be sex-mutilation or sex-alteration operation. All the cutting and pasting of tissue you want won’t change the bottom line of who you are.