Gender Determination Tests for Women Lifters

The Weightlifting Federation of India has decided to conduct gender determination tests for women lifters and they plan to make it mandatory at national level competitions. The sports community is up in arms at the move. The argument being made by the woman weightlifters against the test is that the International Olympic committee has officially stopped gender testing in 1999 and only in the rarest of cases is gender testing allowed and that too after a complaint. So why force such a requirement and open a can of worms? The other argument being made is that this move is tantamount to the harassment of women, who have been the face of Indian weightlifting.

I don’t quite agree with both these arguments. Back in December 2006 at the Asian Games in Doha, Indian sprinter Santhi Sounderarajan was stripped of her silver medal, in the Women’s 800m event, for failing a gender test. Such incidents bring great disrepute to Indian sports. In fact, when a SAI doctor claims that there has been a history of male Indian athletes trying to pass as women, we must take cognizance of the issue and tackle it head on. I assume that these tests will ensure that the medals in the women category are actually won by women.

So, why the big hue and cry? I get the feeling that the argument against this gender test is more media-led. What do you think?