Report: Female Athlete Fails Gender Test

An Indian runner who won a silver medal in the women's 800-meter run at the Asian Games earlier this month has failed a gender test and is likely to be stripped of her medal, news reports said Monday.

Santhi Soudarajan, 25, was made to take the gender test in Doha, Qatar after her victory.

The test reports sent to the Indian Olympic Association on Sunday said she "does not possess the sexual characteristics of a woman," The Times of India reported. The test was administered by a medical commission set up by the games' organizers.

During an awards ceremony held in her native province Monday, Santhi said, "I do not want to talk about it," when asked about the failed tests.

There are no compulsory gender tests during events sanctioned by the International Association of Athletics Federation, but athletes can be asked to take a gender test. The medical evaluation panel usually includes a gynecologist, endocrinologist, psychologist, and an internal medicine specialist.

Dr. Manmohan Singh, chairman of the medical commission of the Indian Olympic Association told the Indian Express newspaper that the Olympic Council of Asia had been informed of the results of Soudarajan's gender test.

It was not unclear whether Santhi, who comes from a poor family, had undergone a sex change procedure in the past, reports The Times of India.

Sports officials in the athlete's home state of Tamil Nadu said that they have no information on her whereabouts.

"If the reports are true, then it is very sad and extremely disappointing," her coach, P. Nagarajan, told the Indian Express.

[wsgvelascop]

Two words - ADAMS APPLE

[ecuadoriana]

So, a story like this should set a precident. I can't comment on whether Santhi Soudarajan is a man or a woman- sometimes I see 50+ year old white american woman sporting hefty moustaches & chin hairs, so what do I know. But I would think that if gender confusion & uncertainty is such a big issue for these competitions then why aren't they "testing" EVERYONE before the competitions? That would make sense. Along with the drug testing they could "gender test", then there would be no issue of stripping someone of their medal after the fact.

This may be a case of jealousy or corruption- who is in charge to make this accusation, who is ordering these random "gender tests", who is administering them & reading (or intentionally mis-reading) the results???

If they had any doubts wouldn't they have brought this up before? Seems to me that there is some political motivation behind this.

[agnim]

"Ugly enough to be a man...

Posted by Plowhandle at 05:47 PM : Dec 18, 2006"

LOL
Isn't that the truth.

Definitely looks almost like a man in the face, but maybe he lack the equipment downstairs. LOL

Puzzler125, as much cheating that goes on in the Olympics some how I really doubt the intersex theory

[puzzler125]

Most of the comments written about this article are inane and not worth reading. This could turn out to be a case of an intersex athlete (look it up) failing classification as XX or XY.

[plowhandle]

Ugly enough to be a man...a DATELESS man, at that.

And the Indians are known to be hung like hamsters.

[kjgal]

I'm not trying to make this a joke or anything, but didn't anybody notice that adam's apple?

I was rolling on the floor laughing my @*** off when I read this!!

It was said on the movie Jurassic Park, "what did someone go out into the park and start lifting skirts?" Just a thought LOL!!!!!

[jetlizhan]

I feel so sorry for her/him - to have let the competitions go so far and now all of a sudden wanting to test this individual. No matter what gender, this person has feelings. . .and superchez1, your comment was very heartless and definitely not funny.

[samthetvcat]

In reading this story, I can't help but think of a girl who was once in my class who transgendered and had both a *** and a wee *** (can you say that on the 'net? She was on a news show talking about her transgenderedness) because she something like xxy chromosomes - so technically she's neither a woman or a man and yet she's both a woman and a man.

Meh, my point being that maybe in places like Qatar they're not so accepting of the full range of human genders - if this woman is something like this then that would be kind of sad . . . like she must feel like she doesn't fit in anywhere.