Caster Semenya
South Africa is a contender to win the victims and villains Olympics
The hysteria around Caster Semenya’s case shows we need to develop a more measured and mature approach to moral affairs, writes Glen Heneck
Progressives and patriots have again worked themselves into a frenzy over Caster Semenya. The recent International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) decision dealing with raised testosterone levels has been widely and loudly denounced as racist, with at least one national editorial talking of a "witch hunt". Speaking as a big fan of Semenya and of freedom of speech, I suggest we calm things down a little. Suffering as we have been for years from a plague of righteous anger, what we need ideally is a big bout of self-examination. We’d do well to use a case like this to help develop a more measured, more mature approach to moral affairs in general. As for the decision as such, I’m not qualified to say if it’s right or wrong. It’s quite possible that the threshold determined is too high (or, equally, too low). The dilemma that the athletics authority faces is, however, real and important, and no matter which way it chooses to resolve it there will be critics and recrimination...
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