Opinion: Semenya action exposes hypocrisy

OFFICIALS of the International Association of Athletics Federations ought to be hanging their heads in shame following the disclosure of one of the biggest ever doping scandals.

With some of the world’s “top” athletes involved, apparently with the knowledge of their national federations, an independent commission set up by the World Anti-Doping Agency, has recommended that the parent body of the worst culprits, the Russian Athletics Federation be banned for widespread doping offences. We wholeheartedly agree that cheats should be hounded out of all sport.

But we want to take the opportunity too to remind officials about the disgraceful way they treated Caster Semenya, SA’s gold medallist at the World Championships in 2011, prior to the 2012 London Olympics. They dragged Semenya’s name through the mud, accusing her of not being a woman, and demanding that she undergo tests to prove that she was not, in fact, a male.

They made this demand even though experts had warned that tests for this purpose were complicated, and would never be conclusive.But they refused to back down, probably because they had no idea how to respect a black woman from Africa.

At every Olympics since the 2000 games in Sydney, Australia, these hypocrites have forced participants from more than 200 countries to recite a useless, unworkable oath: “I promise [to] take part in these Olympic Games, respecting and abiding by the rules which govern them, committing ourselves to a sport without doping and without drugs, in the true spirit of sportsmanship, for the glory of sport and the honour of our teams.” Yesterday, all these solemn promises proved to be a litany of lies and hypocrisy.

We hope that when Mariya Savinova, the Russian 800m gold medallist at the London Olympics, is banned for life for doping offences, athletics bosses will have the good grace to apologise to Semenya. And then replace her silver medal with gold.

And after this, officials in South Africa should redouble their efforts to ensure that the Caster Semenyas of the world are afforded proper respect in sport, as Cheryl Roberts alluded to in her op-ed article yesterday.