Sports

Semenya offered to show her vagina to athletics officials to prove she was female

Double Olympic champion Caster Semenya has accused the World Athletics body of making her take medication that tortured her and made made her fear that she was going to have a heart attack.

Semenya told The Telegraph that on several occasions she offered to show her vagina to track officials when she was 18 years old to prove that she was female. The telegraph published the interview with the South African runner.

Semenya reflected on the 2009 world championships in Berlin where she comfortably won the 80m world title in sterling fashion as an 18-year-old newcomer at her first major athletics meet. Her performance lead the world track Body to order sex test which led to the controversial issue.

Gender tests on Semenya reportedly showed the runner had no womb or ovaries but that she had internal testes, the male sexual organs which produce testosterone, and her levels of the hormone were three times that usually expected in a female. Semenya has a condition known as hyperandrogenism, which is characterised by higher than usual levels of testosterone, a hormone that increases muscle mass and strength and the body’s ability to use oxygen.

The telegraph reports that Semenya said that officials from the athletics body seemed to think that she had a penis. She reportedly said, “I told them it’s fine. I am a female. I don’t care. If you want to see I am a woman I will show you my vagina. Alright?”

Semenya was forced by the world track Body to take medication that artificially lowered her actually high testosterone after her world title win. This was ordered by the world athletics body if Semenya was expected to compete against other female runners.

She took medication after the first ruling in 2011 by World Athletics – then the International Association of Athletics Federations – that all female athletes with hyperandrogenism had to medically lower their testosterone levels.

“It made me sick, made me gain weight, panic attacks, I don’t know if I was ever going to have a heart attack,” Semenya told HBO. “It’s like stabbing yourself with a knife every day. But I had no choice. I’m 18, I want to run, I want to make it to Olympics, that’s the only option for me.”

Although the world track body has never released details of Semenya’s specific medication it is believed that she took birth control pills or something with similar properties to lower her testosterone.

Sports

BARBADOS WINS CWI RISING STARS UNDER-19 CHAMPIONSHIP

by David Harris

Defending champions Barbados defeated Guyana by 44 runs to retain their title in Cricket West Indies (CWI) Rising Stars Under-19 Championship at the Coolidge Cricket Ground, Antigua on Wednesday.

Needing to avoid defeat in their fifth and final match of the tournament to clinch the title, the Barbadian lads scored 209 for eight wickets, before bowling out Guyana for 160 in 45.3 overs.

Barbados were wobbling at 71 for four wickets, after winning the toss and opting to bat. Captain Justin Parris made an attractive 38 runs from 40 balls, the left-handed batsman struck five fours, but his dismissal in the sixteenth over left Barbados in a precarious position. Seth Smith (47) and Rajeev Parsooram (21) repaired the early damage with a crucial fifth-wicket partnership of 61 runs, before Parsooram was dismissed by left-arm pacer Brandon Henry.

After Parsooram’s wicket fell; Smith added 40 vital runs for the sixth wicket with Yuvraj Persaud who made 19, Smith’s rearguard inning ended innings ended when he was dismissed by Henry in the 43rd over, the wicketkeeper/ batsman faced 75 balls and counted four boundaries. Asher Brandford 18 and Zarell Harding 15 not out ensured that Barbados posted a total over 200 runs.

Medium pacer Reyaz Laif took three wickets for 34 runs, he was supported by fast bowler Usain Fredericks two wickets for 53 runs,, and Henry who picked up two wickets for 24 runs.

Chasing 210 for victory, Guyana slumped to 55 for five wickets in the 17^th over as the Bajan bowlers took early wickets; but a defiant knock of 50 runs from Henry briefly give the Guyanese hope. Henry faced 88 balls and lead a lower resistance that saw Guyana to 156 for eight wickets before he was bowled by Parsooram. After Henry was dismissed Guyana’s innings ended quickly.

Brandford captured three wickets for 19 runs with his medium pace; he was supported by fellow medium pacers Joshua Thomas and Parsooram with two wickets for 35 runs and 19 runs respectively, while Parris picked up two wickets with his leg-spin.

Sports

JAYDEN WINS GOLD AT CARIFTA GAMES

by David Harris

Jayden Green captured Barbados’ lone gold medal at the 52nd CARIFTA Games which ended at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, in Mucrapo, Trinidad on Monday night. The 17-year-old student of the Christ Church Foundation School won the Under-20 Boys’ 200 metres at the three -day track and field meeting in 20,93 seconds ahead of Jamaicans Tyreece Foreman (20.95) and Junior Galimore (21.01); Green is the first Barbadian to win the event since Mario Burke in 2015.

The rest of team collected five silver and eight bronze medals with several athletes recording personal best. Barbados won 14 medals at the games, their best performance since the 2016 Games in Grenada where they won 20 medals.

Sports

GET READY FOR THE NATIONAL SENIOR GAMES

Calendar lists all the events from May to September 2025

NATIONAL SENIOR GAMES field events will begin on Saturday, May 31, at Queen’s College, Husbands, St. James, while the road races, involving running, cycling, walking, and skating, will take place on Sunday, June 1, on the Mighty Grynner Highway. Monday, June 9, will see the culmination of the track events at the Usain Bolt Sports Complex.