Thread by @stevemagness

A few quick thoughts on the Caster Semenya decision.

1. First and foremost, sympathy and adminiration towards Semenya should be expressed. She's done nothing wrong. Has withstood immense criticism and having her personal details available to the world.

2. This was a no-win scenario. There was no easy or "right" decision. Sport is being forced to draw a clear line when the reality is there is no easy delineation, it's a blurry one.

3. Why do we regulate only this genetic advantage?
we have divisions based on sex. And there is NO all-encompassing biological marker to differentiate the two. We use testosterone as a surrogate marker. If the IAAF used chromosomes for example, Semenya wouldnt be able to compete

4-We don't differentiate height, arm length, etc. because it's not the marker for sex that is utilized. Argue over whether T should be that marker, fine.

But that's the reason it's used. No different than in boxing weight is a surrogate for bigger guys have an advantage.

5- It's easy to call discrimination, especially with only select events being regulated, but... the reason only the 400-1,500m events are regulated is because the CAS required "evidence" of an advantage. The data pointed to these events. The IAAF wanted the rule across all events

6. Evidence of an advantage is nearly impossible to study.

It seems simple, see if women with higher testosterone do better than those with low. BUT the data comes from blood tests of world class athletes. If research is correct and 30-40% of them are doping...

7- Well, your sample is corrupted. For example, a doper using steroids would likely have a LOWER testosterone level after competition because she would likely stop taking steroids leading up to competition to not test +, which would artificially cause T to drop significantly.

8- Please recognize that this isn't a for or against argument or case. It's possible to feel empathetic towards Semenya and those with DSD while still wanting some sort of dividing line along sex.

9- As you can see, it's complicated. And the CAS case seems to acknowledge that.

There is no easy answer to this situation. It's easy to have a negative visceral reaction from either side. But this issue is something that needs to be handled with scientific rigor and care.

Finally it gets thrown out that is Semenya really that dominant? She’s only the 4th fastest in the 800

Look up and down the all time list and the vast majority near or around Semenya are suspicious times at best...

Semenya could possibly be the clean WR.

A few more misconceptions going around. To clarify: "Why don't we regulate height or other biological advantage."

Answer: they aren't one of the factors used to separate athletes into men's and women's category.

Testosterone is used as a secondary surrogate marker for sex.

We WOULD regulate height or limb length or whatever IF they were differentiators of two groups.

We would use height if 99.9% of males were taller than 6ft and 99.9% of women shorter than 5'6. That's how it is for Testosterone.

IF we decide that there needs to be a men's and women's category, (which I think there should!) then we are left with the following options:
1. Let the athletes decide what sex they want to compete as.
2. Utilize some surrogate marker that distinguishes the categories

Arguments can be made for either. I tend towards #2.

The problem is there's no clear marker that separates everyone perfectly. So we are left with markers that provide the least damage. Right now that appears to be chromosomes +Testosterone.

Is that the right choice? Who knows

We want fairness. We're emotion driven creatures that are driven towards closure and solutions. This is a case that does not give that emotional contentment regardless of what side you are on.

That's why it's important to handle with care. Realize that there is no right choice

And finally, it's okay to hold seemingly opposing thoughts at once. That Semenya is an amazing athlete, a role model AND that there needs to be regulation for DSD athletes. And that none of that is fair.