IAAF: it used to be indecisive but now it’s not so sure

Via South Africa’s The Citizen, it seems that the IAAF is likely to miss its next self-imposed deadline for confirming Caster Semenya’s competition status.

The IAAF said it would reach a decision by the end of June, but spokesman Nick Davies said yesterday it still had to have an internal meeting about the case.

Speaking from his office in Switzerland, Davies said a statement would be released as soon as the outcome of gender verification tests were discussed.

[...]

While many waited on June 10 for the outcome of the “Caster Semenya dispute”, a press conference, hoped to reveal if she would compete again, was cancelled at the last minute.

Her lawyer, Greg Nott, said at the time that Sports Minister Makhenkesi Stofile had cancelled the press conference as the IAAF exco had not received a formal briefing on the matter from the medical team.

Frankly, this amount of stonewalling by the international governing body for athletics is inexcusable. Every deadline it breaks serves only to prolong its attack on a woman athlete who happens not to conform to stereotypical female gender norms.

It’s time for the IAAF to stop sitting on the fence and start making amends for the human rights abuses it has been inflicting on Ms Semenya for nearly a year.

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Previous, related posts on this blog:

• IAAF still playing god with Caster Semenya’s life (March 12, 2010)
• Q: Caster Semenya, the real “Middlesex”? A: No. (February 27, 2010)
• From the IAAF to the IOC: another (not so) fine mess (February 17, 2010)
• This week, I have mostly not been blogging about… (September 12, 2009)
• Athlete to be subjected to a “gender verification test” (August 20, 2009)