Professor Discusses Complexities of Gender Identity in Athletics

ESPN Outside the Lines: Professor: Sports need gender policies, by Lindsay Rovegno & Julie Foudy:

Caster Semenya's life changed because of eight seconds. It took 11 months before she could start to piece it back together.

In August 2009, the South African runner won the 800-meter world championship in 1:55:45. Immediately following the race, Semenya was forced to skip the postrace news conference and ushered out of the stadium.

A representative from the International Association of Athletics Federations, track and field's world governing body, took her place at the podium and explained that an eight-second improvement from her time at a race several weeks prior had triggered an investigation. The investigation included sex determination testing to confirm Semenya's eligibility to race as a woman. . . .