User:Singhalmanu9/sandbox

Hyperandrogenism Edits:

One of the first women who were affected by regulations in testosterone in sport was Maria Jose Martinez-Patiño, a Spanish hurdler in the mid-1980s. In 1985, she received the results of a gender test that revealed she had both an X and Y chromosome, which disqualified her competing with the Spanish team in the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. Ultimately, she argued that her body was unresponsive to the excess testosterone in her body (a condition called androgen insensitivity syndrome), conferring no advantage to her whatsoever. Patiño was allowed to compete again just before the 1992 Olympics, but she failed to qualify for the national team.^[15]

After her breakout year in 2008, Caster Semenya was put under fire just before the 2009 Berlin World Championships. Her appearance worried some concerned about her gender and the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) took action by requesting gender-verification tests.^[16] Several female runners, including Diane Cummins of Canada, have felt like they have been "running against a man".^[17] Although Semenya returned to running in 2010 and celebrated Olympic success in 2012, she never ran as fast as she did in 2008.

Around the same time as Semenya's case, Santhi Soundarajan, an Indian runner, was also facing controversy from the IAAF. The oldest of 4 children, Soundarajan came from a poor family, but her ability as a runner got her into college and quality coaching. Once she started to break national records, she was flown to South Korea to compete in the Asian Athletics Championships in 2005. The next year, she won silver in the Asian Games the day before her gender tests. She wasn't told what she was being tested for, but she was asked to leave the Games the following day. A few days later, the news reported that Soundarajan wasn't a woman and had a Y chromosome, similar to the condition of Maria Jose Martinez Patiño. Her career in sports was over at that point and eventually fell into a deep depression, during which Soundarajan tried to take her life.^[18]