Indian Santhi Soundarajan was stripped of the Asian Games women's 800 metres
silver medal after failing a gender test in Doha.
Indian athlete Santhi Soundarajan has
been officially stripped of her Asian Games silver medal for what the
Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) said was a 'Games rule violation.'
Key facts about sex testing, which was introduced in 1966.
- Laboratory and genetic testing were introduced at the 1968 Mexico City
- Women typically have two X chromosomes and men have an X and a Y chromosome
in each of their cells. The presence of two X chromosomes is taken as
confirmation of the athlete's female gender. Test results for about one in
500-600 athletes are abnormal.
The International Association of Athletics Federations abandoned gender
verification tests in 1991 and the International Olympic Committee (IOC)
suspended the tests before the 2000 Sydney Olympics. However, the Olympic
Council of Asia still conducts tests.
- Polish sprinter Stalislawa Walasiewicz, who won the women's 100 metres at
the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics, is the most notorious case. Walasiewicz changed
her name to Stella Walsh and moved to the United States where she was shot dead
in a robbery attempt in 1980. An autopsy showed she possessed male genitalia.
- The first athlete to fail a sex test was Polish sprinter Eva Klobukowska in
1967, who won a 4x100 relay gold at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. She was found to
have a rare condition which gave her no advantage over other athletes.
- Sisters Tamara and Irina Press won five track and field Olympic gold medals
for the Soviet Union and set 26 world records in the 1960s. Their careers
suddenly ended when gender testing was introduced.
- Eight athletes failed the tests at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics but were all
cleared by subsequent physical examinations.
- Britain's Princess Anne, a member of the equestrian team, was excused from
the gender test at the 1976 Montreal Olympics.
ARGUMENTS AGAINST GENDER TESTING
- The genetic tests provide potentially inaccurate results and discriminate
against women with disorders of sexual development.
- Genetic anomalies can allow a person to have a male genetic make-up but be
physiologically female. Spanish hurdler Maria Patino, who failed a gender test
in 1985, was reinstated after it was found that she was resistant to the
strength-promoting qualities of testosterone.