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ABHIJIT BHATLEKAR/MINT did not tell her what it was for, way she is, but her family and but they took blood, and made her older sister (Saraswati) were her strip. The next day, again very depressed. Dutee started without any explanation, she opening up to me. She had was told to leave the Games. A many questions about the test, few days later, back in , about her own body, about Soundarajan saw footage of her androgens.” race splashed across news chan- Neither Chand nor her family nels, with a report that said she really understood what was hap- had failed a “gender test”. pening, and why anyone would Many of the reports suggested say their girl is not a girl. Other that Soundarajan was a man dis- villagers too stood behind her. guised as a woman who cheated They told her she had that her way to a medal. The AFI “thing”—essence, not genitalia— called to tell her that she was that made her a girl. barred from sports, and that her Mitra and Chand travelled to medal had been New Delhi, where they hunkered taken away. A few months later, down for a series of meetings Soundarajan drank a bottle of with sports officials. The options veterinary poison in her village. were laid out for her: Quit sports She was saved by a friend who or put yourself through medical rushed her to hospital. Then intervention. Soundarajan was forgotten. “Dutee, Payoshni and I were In 2011, Mitra, who was work- locked up in a room talking ing in , decided to inter- about what to do for a long view her. In the course of the time,” Thomson says. “At some interview Mitra learnt that point, Dutee broke down. Then Soundarajan was never given we ate lunch together, and when her medical report (a serious we resumed talking, Dutee said, RAMESH PATHANIA/MINT breach of protocol—such reports straight away, ‘I don’t want sur- Miles to go: (clockwise from are supposed to be handed over gery or hormone therapy.’” above) leading to the athlete first). Together, “When I read that my condi- the field in the 100m at the they filed a right to information tion is treatable, I thought they Junior Asian Athletics (RTI) request for the report. meant that I could take a medi- Championship this year; Mitra made a documentary on cine, like you take a painkiller,” SAI chief Jiji Thomson; Soundarajan to explain her con- Chand says. “But when I was , whose dition. Soundarajan had female told that it would involve chang- career was derailed genitalia, but the chromosomal ing my body in some way, I by a gender test; and Chand set-up of a man (XY instead of didn’t want to.” Chand’s deci- goes for an evening run at XX). She produced more testo- sion provided the trigger for SAI the railway training insti­ sterone than the average to act. tute in Bhusaval. woman, but she was also insen- Thomson immediately began sitive to the hormone, which ran negotiations with the sports inertly through her. None of ministry to allow the challenge these conditions is uncom- to be filed, listing carefully the mon—in fact they are far more potentially high expenditure of common in elite sports than in taking the case to CAS. average populations—and none “I told my minister, no one of them proves that Soundarajan has ever challenged this before, is not a woman. this is absolutely unprece- Mitra showed the documen- dented,” Thomson says. The tary to sports officials in India, word spread. Karkazis, Kidd, “Their sports career is the but got little response. In 2012, Bunting, all got involved. Mitra Soundarajan’s story got another spent all her time on the phone livelihood for their family. jolt when it was reported in a or writing mails. newspaper that she was working On 27 September, a Saturday, It is very hard to challenge in a brick kiln. Suddenly, there Thomson and Mitra waited anx- was a wave of sympathy and iously for a go-ahead from this policy because it support. The Union ministry Bunting to file the appeal with of youth affairs and sports CAS. Chand had been officially requires an interruption to offered her a job as a coach. barred on 29 August, and CAS one’s career, and the toll But questions about her rules mandate that an appeal gender continued to haunt must be filed within a month of that can take is huge.” her—when she was given the ban. Time was running out. ATHLETICS admission to the coaching “Then the call from Bunting course at SAI’s National came through in the evening,” track to win a scholarship to a general, Jiji Institute of Sports in Thomson says. “I had stopped government-run sports hostel in Thomson, with Patiala, administrators my officers from going home just . Then she began whom she had denied her a place, saying for this. We immediately started winning everything. In 2013, she worked earlier to they could accommodate the process for filing the appeal. became the first Indian to reach rehabilitate another her neither in the The almost 5-hour time differ- the final of an international 100m athlete whose career women’s hostel nor in ence saved us. Those were tense event (at the IAAF World Youth had been destroyed the men’s hostel. Mitra last moments.” WHY DUTEE CHAND Championships). She became because of gender found herself up against a The stage was set. the senior national champion in questions—the middle- wall—the then director 100m and 200m the same year. distance runner Santhi general of SAI even suggested What makes you a woman? This May, two months before her Soundarajan. another gender test to resolve Why women athletes need to be ban, she had broken the 14-year- Soundarajan’s story is the issue. In early 2013, SAI got a tested for eligibility is perhaps old national junior record in like an inventory of every- new chief, Jiji Thomson, who the last explosive question left in 100m by a large margin. Sports thing that can go wrong took an unusually sympathetic sports, and at its centre right was her key to a different life. when an athlete’s most basic view of the case, and ordered now is the hyperandrogenism “The pressure on athletes to identity is questioned. She that NIS immediately take her in policy. Men and women both remain eligible is extraordinary,” was born into a desperately and put her in its guest house produce testosterone, but men Karkazis says. “Their sports poor Dalit family in Kathaku- instead of the hostel. typically have more than 10 career is the livelihood for their richi village in , and Mitra was relieved, when she times the amount in their body. CAN CHANGE SPORTS family. It is very hard to chal- grew up in a house without elec- took up Chand’s case, to find The use of synthetic testoster- lenge this policy because it tricity, running water, or a toilet. that Thomson was still at the one has been clinically proven to B Y R UDRANEIL S ENGUPTA & peted at the senior level, the 18- news channels, that she had She decided to challenge the who will testify for Chand. Jim requires an interruption to one’s Her parents made a living work- helm. She raised the issue with boost muscle growth and explo- Why should a natural, inherent D HAMINI R ATNAM year-old Chand is well known. In failed a “gender test”. Chand was ruling at the the Court of Arbi- Bunting, a lawyer who represents career, and the toll that can take ing in brick kilns, a profession him, and Thomson took the sive power, and aid recovery ···························· June, in a breakthrough in her completely bewildered by the tration of Sports (CAS) in the Sport Dispute Resolution is huge.” recently in the news for being unprecedented step of sending from physical activity. Using condition prevent one of India’s he sprinter Dutee Chand fledgling career, she won two news. It made no sense. Lausanne, Switzerland. Centre of Canada, is working as widely regarded as being akin to out a carefully drafted state- synthetic testosterone is simply leads a quiet, disciplined gold medals at the Asian Junior What she did have, and did “What I have is natural,” she Chand’s legal counsel, pro bono. The challenge slavery. Soundarajan’s athletic ment saying that Chand’s gen- seen as doping, and there is most promising young sprinters Tlife. It involves attending Athletics Championships in Tai- not know about, is a condition says. “I have not doped. I don’t “I marvel at Dutee’s courage It was a breach of confidentiality talent, though, was spotted early, der was not in question, and she agreement in the scientific or classes for 9 hours at the Zonal pei, Taiwan. Bigger stages called hyperandrogenism. Her deserve the ban. This should and strength,” Karkazis wrote in that set everything in motion. when she was in school, and it was being tested only for hyper- sporting community that this from competing? It’s a question Railway Training Institute in awaited her—she was set to com- body produces a larger amount never happen to another girl an email. On 16 July, the details of changed her life. By the time she androgenism. should not be permitted. Bhusaval, a small town in pete at the International Associa- of the androgen hormone testo- again.” By any reckoning, the odds Chand’s test and her name were was 15, she was living in Chen- “That statement had a bigger Naturally produced testosterone, Maharashtra almost 600km from tion of Athletics Federations sterone than the average woman. Multiple cases of hyperandro- were stacked against Chand’s made public by a newspaper. nai on scholarship and being effect on the way the media on the other hand, is a completely at the heart of a global debate on Mumbai. At the institute’s large, (IAAF) World Junior Champion- She was barred from competing genism have come to light since decision to fight back. She is the The leak could have had disas- groomed as an elite athlete. Ten reported the story than anything different ball game. It is neither an leafy campus, Chand is one of ship in the US and her name was because IAAF, the governing the ruling came into effect in third of seven children born to a trous results, but it also brought years and a handful of interna- we had done for Soundarajan,” external, nor an artificial, aid. And gender and sports only three women training to be under consideration for the 2014 body for , intro- 2011, but no athlete has ever poor weaver family in ’s the case to the attention of Pay- tional medals and national Mitra says. even though it plays a central role ticket-checkers. After classes, Commonwealth Games (CWG) duced a rule in 2011 which states taken this step. These tests and Chaka Gopalpur village. She oshni Mitra, a Kolkata-based records later, she finished sec- Thomson took the bold step in muscle growth, there is no con- she heads back to her hostel in Glasgow. But on 12 July, just that women who naturally pro- their results are meant to be con- spent her early childhood in a researcher and activist in gender ond at the in of making Mitra the official sensus on the degree to which tes- room and pores over study ahead of the world champion- duce testosterone at levels usu- fidential, and athletes, fearing hovel; her parents, both weavers, issues in sports. Mitra got the 800m. It was by far the big- mediator for Chand, even tosterone produced by the body material. She has pencilled ships and the CWG, Chand was ally seen in men will be ineligible social shame and an end to their earned less than `3,000 a month. Chand’s number and called her. gest win of her career—a glowing though she had no affiliation aids athletes. notes—abbreviations and chap- summoned by the doctor at the to compete as women. The extra careers, quietly accept secretive When she was 4, she was “She was suspicious and con- tribute to the overwhelming with SAI or the sports minis- “Testosterone is only one ter headings—on the room walls Sports Authority of India (SAI) hormone gives them an unfair medical intervention. inspired by her elder sister Saras- fused,” Mitra says. “She was odds she had sprinted through try—“I knew my people were ingredient among many that and on white charts; a desk with training centre in Bengaluru, athletic advantage, IAAF’s rea- Chand’s act of defiance wati’s running prowess, and remarkably stable when we to become an elite athlete. At the very unprofessional in things affect athletic performance,” a laptop is within arm’s reach of where she was training. A series soning went. Just before the 2012 brought together an interna- would run along with her on the spoke but she had no idea what end of the race, Soundarajan, like this, and I knew Payoshni Karkazis says, “and there is no her bed. It is a life some distance of tests were run, and three days Olympics in London, the Inter- tional group of scientists, former banks of the Brahmani river that was happening to her, and she overcome with emotion and dis- was the right person, so I asked scientific basis for claiming that it removed from what she has later, she was told she would not national Olympic Committee athletes and bioethicists, includ- flowed past their village. said, ‘I don’t know why they are belief, lay flat on her back on the her to take over,” he says. is either the singular or the most known so far, a life revolving be able to compete. No reasons (IOC) also adopted the rule. ing Canadian Olympian and She watched as Saraswati’s saying I’m not a girl. Why are track. She was sent to Chand’s vil- important dividing line between around intense training, were offered. Athletes who had hyperandro- author Bruce Kidd, one of the sporting career—her elder sister they doing gender tests on me?’” The triumph lasted less than lage to meet her. Mitra and men and women athletes.” workouts and competitions. “My first thought was that I genism had two options: Quit world’s leading activists for became a state-level athlete— Mitra told her not to use the 24 hours. The morning after the Chand spoke on an overcast day Studies have shown that It is even further removed had been banned because I sports, or undergo a medical equality in sports, and medical transformed the economic for- term “gender test”, but by then race, Soundarajan was called by sitting on the banks of the Brah- women athletes with Androgen from the storm now brewing— failed a dope test,” Chand says. intervention involving surgery anthropologist and author Kat- tunes of her family. Saraswati SAI had released a statement the Athletics Federation of India mani, the very place where Insensitivity Syndrome (AIS)— with her at its centre—that has “But I have never doped.” Con- and long-term hormone-re- rina Karkazis from the Center for even got a job with the police confirming that it had done a (AFI) doctor, and made to Chand had discovered her pas- like Soundarajan, their bodies the potential to change the fused and upset, Chand left for placement therapy to lower Biomedical Ethics at Stanford through the sports quota. By the “gender test” on an athlete—it undergo a test conducted by the sion for running. produce extra testosterone but IAN WALTON/ world of sports. her home in Odisha. It was only androgen levels. University, US. Kidd and Karka- time she was 10, Dutee was did not name Chand. Mitra con- Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) GETTY IMAGES “She was still very cheerful,” Though she has never com- there that she learnt, through Chand took the third option. zis are part of an expert panel already impressive enough on a tacted SAI. She met the director medical committee. The doctors Mitra says, “because that’s the TURN TO PAGE L12® L12 COVER LOUNGE SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2014° WWW.LIVEMINT.COM

JULIAN FINNEY/GETTY IMAGES ® FROM PAGE L11 had been secretly, and without was published in The Journal Of her knowledge, subjected to a Clinical Endocrinology And cannot use it—are highly over- gender test. As she was running Metabolism in 2013, but were represented in elite sports. In the race, the test was leaked to described as 18-21 years of age, 1996, a systematic chromosome the press. When she won, tall, slim, muscular, flat-chested, screening of female athletes at Time.com ran a headline which and “from rural mountainous the Atlanta Olympics found that read, “Could this women’s world regions of developing countries”. one out of every 423 athletes had champ be a man?” They had “excessive pubic hair AIS—more than 200 times the As she was subjected to and clitoromegaly (enlarged estimated incidence in the gen- intense and humiliating scrutiny, clitoris)” and hidden testes but eral population. Some even had Semenya received overwhelming “none of them reported male CAIS—the “C” stands for “Com- support from her country. The sex behaviour”. To make them plete”—which means their bod- South African government pur- fit for competing as women, ies could not use any testoster- sued the case aggressively with they were taken to a hospital in one at all. More recently, during IAAF and the IOC, and it came to France where their gonads were the 2011 IAAF World Champion- light that IAAF’s gender policy removed, even though the study ships in Daegu, South Korea, did not have a single litmus test says, “...leaving male gonads in another systematic blood testing for determining sex. Instead, it patients carries no health risk, programme found similar rates relied on consensus, without each athlete was informed that MIKE HEWITT/ of AIS in female athletes. GETTY IMAGES defining the criteria that must be gonadectomy would most likely Martin Ritzen, emeritus pro- used. Yet it could investigate any decrease their performance fessor at the Karolinska Institute, athlete if anyone raised a ques- level but allow them to continue Sweden, and a former member tion. Semenya was tested after a elite sport...” of the IOC Medical Commission, blog post called her a man Gonadectomy (the removal of who helped shape the hyperan- “Policing women’s testosterone (Chand too was tested after an an ovary or testis) in women drogenism rule, was one of the exacerbates one of the ugliest anonymous complaint). causes loss of bone and muscle co-authors of a paper based on As in the case of Chand, people strength, and may lead to diabe- the Daegu tests, and published tendencies in women’s sports were appalled at these revela- tes, chronic fatigue, depression, in The Journal Of Clinical Endo- tions. In July 2010, IAAF cleared and poor libido. It necessitates crinology And Metabolism in today: the name­calling and Semenya to run again, and began lifelong hormone replacement August. The paper states that to look yet again for a gender test. therapy. More chillingly, in the “there is no clear scientific evi- insinuations that an athlete is Outliers: It came up with hyperandrogen- case of the four athletes, the dence proving that a high level of (extreme left) ism. gonadectomy was followed by a T (testosterone) is a significant ‘too masculine’, or worse, Serena Williams The fact remains that there is series of cosmetic surgeries that determinant of performance in that she is a man.” has often faced no single scientific marker that had nothing to do with lowering female sports…” ridicule for being separates men from women, and androgen levels: Their clitori Ritzen did not respond to muscular; and South this is the stumbling block for were partially removed, a prac- emails requesting an interview even qualify for the men’s event. Thomson. Just about every ath- Africa’s Caster sports’ governing bodies. Alice tice that the medical community for this article. Arne Ljungqvist, But these differences are not lete at the elite level is a physi- Semenya, whose case Dreger, professor of clinical med- renounces, and they underwent IOC member and vice-presi- explained by testosterone alone. cal outlier. highlighted the problems ical humanities and bioethics at “feminizing vaginoplasty”. dent of the World Anti-Doping “There is no stigma for men Karkazis suggests that with gender testing in sports. the Feinberg School of Medicine, “When I read the paper, I was Agency, who was also part of who are strong and fast,” says what is at stake here is Northwestern University in Chi- absolutely shocked,” Mitra says. the committee that worked on Karkazis. “There are no tests for not a scientific problem cago, said in a 2009 New Yorker “Why on earth would anyone the hyperandrogenism rule, men to weed out those who pro- but a social anxiety. In a Bad science article on Semenya: “People need cliterodectomy? It seemed declined an interview, saying duce more testosterone than televised debate on Al- It is this very fear, that men always press me: ‘Isn’t there one like appearance was more he will “not comment on an other men. Why not?” Jazeera on hyperandro- masquerading as women will marker we can use?’ No. We important than anything else. ongoing case”. The hyperandrogenism rule is genism, Ritzen said women compete in women’s athletics couldn’t then and we can’t now, Does this woman look like a The principal logic behind the unique in the sporting world for with hyperandrogenism have an events, that led to gender testing and science is making it more dif- woman? Does she have breasts?” hyperandrogenism policy is that being the only policy that pro- “in-born” error. Hida Viloria, the in the first place. It has a mud- ficult and not less, because it men and women produce dis- hibits a natural phenomenon. In US-based chairperson of the dled and embarrassing history. ends up showing us how much Can Dutee run? tinctly different levels of testo- every other way, sports is an Organization Interna- While gender screening goes blending there is and how many Chand is wearing a buttoned- sterone, and these levels are incredibly sophisticated and tional, responded: “Fifty years back to the 1936 Olympics, it nuances, and it becomes impos- down cream shirt and black responsible for the vast differ- well-funded machinery aimed at ago, Norman Cox, an Olympic became mandatory in 1966, sible to point to one thing, or jeans, as she walks back to her ence in their performance. But a recognizing and developing the official, said that about black partly in response to a Cold War even a set of things, and say that’s institute from the Bhusaval rail- large-scale, 2009 study on elite innate gifts of athletes. women who have a different paranoia that East European what it means to be male.” way station. She has returned athletes conducted by GH-2000, Michael Phelps, the swimmer physicality, that the IOC should countries were sending men dis- Kidd advocates an elegant from a day-trip to a temple in a a project co-funded by the IOC who holds the record for the create a special category of com- guised as women to win medals. solution to the problem: If you nearby town. She has an easy and the European Union most number of Olympic gold petition for them: the unfairly All female athletes were required say you are a woman, it is and wide smile that she breaks through the Growth Hormone medals won by a single athlete, advantaged hermaphrodites.” to drop their pants and have their enough. In the world of sports, into quickly and often. She is Research Society, found a signifi- has a rare genetic disorder called There is no reason to go back genitals tested. Two years later, where scrutiny is anyway intense, small—5ft-nothing—and ties cant overlap in testosterone val- Marfan’s Syndrome, which is 50 years. Last month, the head of amid outrage over the humilia- this suggestion is not as fanciful her hair in a severe ponytail. ues in men and women. Around characterized by hyperflexibility, the Russian Tennis Federation tion of these “nude parades”, the as it may seem at first. There has Waiting for her case to move for- 5% of the women tested in the long limbs and long, thin fingers. and IOC member Shamil Tarpis- IOC switched to a DNA test. It never been a confirmed case of a ward, Chand has allowed her “male range”, and 8% had levels The Finnish skier Eero Mänty- chev referred to Serena Wil- was simple—men have XY chro- man pretending to be a woman nails to grow, and painted them above the “female range”. Even ranta, who won seven Olympic liams, the women’s World No.1 mosomes and women have XX. at an international athletic event. a dark pink. When she speaks, it more tellingly, 25% of the men, medals in skiing in the 1960s, in tennis, and her sister Venus as Except when they don’t. “It is a far-fetched idea, a ghost is with a surety and softness that including some Olympic medal- has a mutation in something the “Williams brothers”, adding The scientific community concern that men will start com- belies her age—she speaks fast, lists, were below the “male called the EPOR gene, which that “it’s scary when you really stood unified in opposition to the peting as women,” Karkazis says. like she runs. range”, with a large number test- improves the oxygen-carrying look at them”. IOC, telling the sports body that “People who suggest this are not “I’ll leave sports but I will never ing in the “female range”. capacity of a person’s blood by “Policing women’s testoster- there was just no way to divide thinking what it would mean for change my body,” she says. The difference in male and 25-50%. one exacerbates one of the ugli- men and women neatly by look- a man who does not feel himself But then she adds: “My sister female athletic performance, “Usain Bolt was born with very est tendencies in women’s sports ing at their chromosomes since to be a woman to live his life in wanted me to earn a medal for especially in explosive events long legs. He completes the today: the name-calling and all kinds of things can and do and out of sports as a woman.” India in the Olympics and I have like sprints, is truly large. The 100m race in 41 strides. His insinuations that an athlete is happen when parents’ DNAs are to do that. I feel like there is a winner of the 2012 Olympic nearest competitor takes 45. ‘too masculine’, or worse, that lining up to form the genetic Under the knife speed breaker in my life now. I Women’s 100m sprint would not Should we ban Bolt?” asks she is a man,” says Kidd. combination for a baby. By 1990, What might have happened if just have to overcome this and I chromosome testing had been Chand had succumbed to medi- can go back to running.” dropped. cal intervention to lower her By the middle of next year, JAMIE SQUIRE/GETTY IMAGES Yet the fear of “masculine” androgen levels? perhaps earlier, Chand will know Not woman enough women never went away. Caster A study based on the treatment if she can do what she loves best. Gender testing in sports through the years Semenya went through the same of four athletes who were found If she is allowed to run again, it ordeal in 2009, when she won to have hyperandrogenism at the will be a victory worth more than the 800m at the IAAF World 2012 Olympics provides distress- an Olympic medal. Championships in breathtaking ing testimony. The athletes were fashion. A few weeks earlier, she not named in the study, which [email protected]

Spanish hurdler Maria Mar­ TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA/AFP tinez­Patino fails the Barr body test at the World Eight women fail University Games and is the genetic test Santhi Soundarajan told to retire from sports at the Atlanta fails the gender test IAAF introduces a rule The IOC adopts the feigning injury. Martinez­ Olympics, but are after the 2006 Asian requiring female athletes Barr body test—cheek Patino, who had XY chro­ declared eligible Games. She loses her to carry medical certifi­ swabs taken from mosome but also CAIS, to compete as medals. cates issued by their athletes are tested for Maria Martinez­ begins a battle against the women after countries declaring that chromosomal set­up: XX Patino ruling. Her records and medals further tests. they are women. is women, XY, men. are taken away and she is Semenya is reinstated. banned from sports. 1996 Santhi 1946 1967 1985 2006 Soundarajan 2010

1936 1968 1988 1992 1999 Polish runner Stanisława Austrian skier Erika Schinegger is IAAF drops 2009 2011 Walasiewicz accuses the US’ chromosome IAAF drops all gender test­ WIKIMEDIA the first woman to be disqualified The IOC drops IAAF and IOC COMMONS Helen Stephens of being testing and ing, since new doping reg­ by the Barr body test. mandatory sex fails the gender introduce the a man after losing to goes back to ulations require athletes to tests, but test. The South hyperandrogen­ her in the 100m final 1966 visual tests. pass urine in front of doc­ reserves the African government ism rule. at the Berlin Olympics. IAAF introduces standardized, on­site sex Martinez­Patino tors. The IOC continues to right to test if fights the verdict. Stephens undergoes an testing for all female athletes at the Euro­ is reinstated. test, introducing a genetic “suspicions are unspecified test and is pean Athletics Championships. The test test which looks for a aroused”. declared a woman. involves an inspection of the genitals by a single gene called the sex panel of three doctors. Athletes complain of determining region Y or Stanisława Walasiewicz humiliation and the method is discontinued SRY gene. two years later.