Olympic notes

Gender issue finally resolved

Semenya allowed to compete as woman

South African Caster Semenya (second from left) has not raced competitively since winning the 800-meter world title in Berlin in August 2009. (Frank Augstein/Associated Press)

By John Powers

Globe Staff / July 9, 2010

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This much, finally, is clear. South African runner Caster Semenya is eligible to compete as a woman and she’ll be back on the track next week. But neither the international track and field federation nor Semenya’s representatives will say how her perplexing gender identity issue was resolved, citing confidential medical details. Was more sophisticated testing done? Or did the 19-year-old, who has a male build and voice, have treatments that tipped the balance toward female?

Semenya became an instant figure of controversy and curiosity when she turned up out of nowhere at last summer’s global outdoor championships in Berlin and won the 800 meters by more than two seconds in a race that usually is decided by fractions. When the IAAF this week cleared her to compete again without giving specifics, speculation swirled anew. According to a Sydney newspaper, a medical report prepared for the IAAF last year said that Semenya has external female genitalia but internal male testes.

“I think we’ll never know what the situation was in Berlin,’’ British runner Jenny Meadows, who finished third in that race, told the Associated Press. “That’s gone. We’ll never know what happened in that 11 months. The medical team say that the place she’s at now, she’s a female. If they say she’s a female, I’m happy to compete against her.’’

Since Semenya isn’t yet in top shape, she’ll bypass the upcoming world junior championships in New Brunswick, but will enter a couple of European meets, starting with the Lappeenranta Games in Finland, to tune up for the African championships in Kenya at the end of the month and may also compete in this autumn’s Commonwealth Games in India.

Progress report

Despite the tanking economy, record government deficits, and a recent $40 million funding cut, the London organizers have managed to carry on toward the 2012 Games. That’s the impression of the International Olympic Committee’s coordination commission, which dropped by for a three-day look at the preparations that are between the fast-forward pace of Beijing and the just-in-time approach of Athens.

“I think London is on the front of the cities that were ready ahead of time,’’ reckoned president Jacques Rogge, who dropped by 10 Downing Street for a chat with new prime minister David Cameron. The most visible sign of progress is the 80,000-seat main stadium, where the exterior has been finished, the light towers are in place, the roof is nearly complete, and seats are going in at the rate of 700 a day.

Still to be determined is the plan and pricing for tickets, which will go on sale next spring. One thing already is certain — spectators won’t be allowed to bring in vuvuzelas, the plastic horns that have turned the World Cup soccer tournament into a buzzing beehive.

Taking attendance

Though USA Basketball wanted as many top guns as possible for next month’s world championships in Turkey, Deron Williams and Chris Paul likely will be the only members from the Olympic gold medal team to suit up. Given burnout after a long NBA season, plus injuries and free agency issues, it was wishful thinking to count on the likes of Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Dwight Howard giving up weeks of precious downtime to travel halfway around the world to take on the Croatians and Tunisians. There’s still plenty of talent on the 31-player list, notably Kevin Durant, Amar’e Stoudemire, Chauncey Billups, and David Lee . . . US Olympic committee chairman Larry Probst and new chief executive Scott Blackmun have been piling up the frequent flyer miles doing their global meet-and-greet duties that are designed to strengthen relationships with IOC members and other top international players. While both were in Switzerland recently to talk about revenue-sharing — the biggest bone of contention between the USOC and IOC — Probst, as the senior official, has much the heavier travel schedule. “Larry has been a road warrior,’’ said Blackmun. On the chairman’s schedule are trips to Mexico, Puerto Rico, Singapore, and China for various meetings and major competitions like the Asian Games . . . The US men’s straight four of Josh Inman, Henrik Rummel, Brett Newlin, and Giuseppe Lanzone produced the first American victory in Henley’s Stewards’ Challenge Cup in 30 years by beating the French last weekend, while the men’s quad made the final. Newton sculler Gevvie Stone also was a finalist, losing to world medalist Mirka Knapkova of the Czech Republic in the Princess Royal Challenge Cup. Stone will take on Knapkova and world champion Ekaterina Karsten-Khodotovich at this weekend’s World Cup finale in Lucerne, Switzerland. If Stone places among the top four, she’ll earn a ticket to this autumn’s global regatta.

Making a splash

It took a penalty shootout against the Australians, but the US women’s water polo team won its fifth World League title in seven years in La Jolla, Calif. After finishing second to the Dutch at Olympus, the Americans now are on top of the world after winning last year’s global crown . . . On the US team for next week’s world open water swimming championships in Quebec are Eva Fabian, the 16-year-old from Keene, N.H., who competed last year in Rome, plus Alex Meyer, the recent Harvard grad who was an All-America distance swimmer. In this case distance means 25 kilometers, while Fabian will compete in the 5K and 10K events . . . It didn’t make up for their loss in the Olympic gold medal game in Beijing, but the US women’s softball team dealt out some payback to the Japanese at the recent world championships in Venezuela with a 7-0 blanking for its seventh straight crown. The Americans won all 10 of their games by an aggregate 95-6 . . . Not only did the Russians perform poorly in Vancouver (three gold medals, 15 overall), they spent a staggering amount doing so — $186 million, more than $12 million per medal. That’s five times more than the Motherland paid out to win eight golds in 2006 and the government audit blames much of it on waste and inefficiency. The man on the hot seat is sports minister Vitaly Mutko, who put in for 97 breakfasts during his Games visit, which works out to five per day at a total cost of $4,500.

Time off

Taking at least a one-year sabbatical from the rink is figure skater Johnny Weir, who says he needs “to rest and reinvent myself as an athlete and artist.’’ The three-time US champion, who was sixth at the Olympics, may or may not call it a career, but as a longtime Russophile, he says it would be a dream to compete in the 2014 Games in Sochi . . . Harvard women’s ice hockey coach, Katey Stone, who holds the record for Division 1 victories with 339, will direct the US squad at this autumn’s Four Nations Cup and next spring’s world championships in Switzerland. Stone, who’d be a solid choice for Olympic coach for 2014, has had nine of her Crimson participate in the Games for the US and Canada, with six winning gold medals . . . It was fitting that pioneers Cammi Granato and Canada’s Angela James were the first two women enshrined last month in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. Granato, who played 15 years for the US team, won Olympic gold and silver plus nine world medals. James, who began playing in the ’70s, won four world titles. They were the leaders of the generation that grew up skating with boys’ teams and were present at the creation of the women’s game.

John Powers can be reached at jpowers@globe.com; material from Olympic committees, international and domestic sports federations, personal interviews, and wire services was used.