'He Lives Off His Dad's Name. If I Can't Beat Him There's No Point'
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56 1G M Monday February 18 2019 | the times the times | Monday February 18 2019 1G M 57 Sport Sport Whoever wins, a lot ‘He lives off his of people in Semenya dad’s name. If I case will be unhappy athletes have set, and the 100-plus Martyn Ziegler national, continental, international Analysis and Olympic medals they have won.” Once more, the IAAF is stressing the impact of the presence of testes in DSD It is sport’s most complex and contro- athletes. can’t beat him versial issue, and there can be no easy That will also apply very much to solution. cases of trans athletes competing in Today, Caster Semenya will arrive at women’s events. the Court of Arbitration for Sport in It is certainly difficult to argue Lausanne, Switzerland. She will be against the point of view that if testes accompanied by a team of lawyers are present and functioning, they are determined to overturn rules laid down providing some of the physical advan- by the IAAF, athletics’ international tages of males to DSD females. there’s no point’ governing body, which state that the It is not that clear-cut however. The 28-year-old South African should be IAAF’s regulations cover seven differ- obliged to take testosterone suppress- ent types of DSD athletes. In three of ants to compete in women’s middle- the categories, including 5-ARD, testes Rick Broadbent speaks to inspire a good deal of loathing, too, and both distance running. would typically be present. In the other have been involved in pitch-black boxing nights. Lord Coe, the IAAF’s president, will four categories however, such as James DeGale and Chris In 1991 Michael Watson needed six brain be there too, and the body’s lawyers are congenital adrenal hyperplasia, testes operations after suffering life-changing injuries equally determined to, it says, preserve are not always present and sometimes Eubank Jr as they get set during his world-title bout with Eubank at fair competition in women’s events. there are XX female instead of XY male White Hart Lane. Fast forward to 2016 and he The five-day hearing will go to the chromosomes. to put their careers on told his son to stop hitting Nick Blackwell in the heart of issues of sex, gender and That could be a very important legal head during their British title fight. Blackwell identity that do not just divide sport but point for the court to rule on: Semenya’s the line on Saturday suffered a bleed on the brain and was placed in society as well. legal team will be expected to argue an induced coma, although he is now recovering The IAAF lost one court ruling on strongly that the IAAF appears to be and planning to run a half-marathon. testosterone suppressants in 2015 but focusing on the particular DSD condi- hris Eubank Jr parks his orange “In my opinion this is the noblest sport you this time, as The Times revealed last tion that Semenya and some other McLaren supercar outside a scruffy can take part in,” Eubank Jr says. “It is the hurt week, the IAAF’s lawyers have changed middle-distance runners have, rather gym on Brighton seafront. Wearing all game and people can lose their lives but that is their approach in an important way. than the regulations governing all grey, he descends past the bright why I dedicate myself to my craft. It’s very, very They are expected to provide evidence seven conditions and testosterone murals of boxers and steps inside the serious and I train all year round. that while Semenya and some other levels. Cmetal door. About an hour away James DeGale, “The blood and cuts and screaming magnify DSD runners — those with what is The case has already provoked bitter clad in black training gear, is taking the lift to everything, but watch rugby and the NFL. The known as Differences of Sexual Devel- divisions — Tokozile Xasa, South the top floor of a bland office block in Wembley. intent is the same — to score points. There is no opment — are legally female, her Africa’s sports minister, launched a The door opens to the music from a speaker and malice. People think you must really want to biological sex is male: genetically, she social media campaign last week to a backbeat of punched bags. On Saturday the 60 kill someone, but the opposite is true. If you has male hormones, as well as testes support Semenya, who was born and miles will disappear and these two will meet at have that mentality of hate and anger you will (internal) and no female reproductive raised in a small village in the rural the O2 arena for what DeGale has branded the fight the wrong way. You will lose your game organs such as ovaries. north of South Africa, and claimed that “retirement fight”. Ghosts of the past and future plan, go wild and get tired. This is 70 per cent There are various types of DSD — the case is a “subtle incident of racism”. drift through two sweatshops. mental.” one type called 5-ARD can cause a That appears to be a reference to the Famous figures watch on from the murals. person to be born with XY male chro- fact that the most successful DSD ath- brighton There is Eubank Sr and Nigel Benn, Roberto mosomes, but because their male letes at the moment are all middle-dis- “I could have done anything,” Eubank says. “I Durán and Rocky Balboa. Davis is honed from organs may not develop externally they tance runners from Africa — including could have been a doctor, a lawyer or a football the same stuff channelled by Burgess Meredith are often raised as girls. Testes can be all three medal-winners from the Rio player. I tried every sport under the sun but, in Rocky. Perhaps the most pertinent aphorism, present internally, but still producing Olympics women’s 800 metres in 2016. once I got a taste for boxing, everything else male levels of testosterone after puber- The IAAF has identified only middle- seemed bland and grey.” DeGale chalked up 13 wins after his defeat by “The main one: ‘Is James DeGale finished?’ ” DeGale, left, was unusually honest. In the past he has told me ty. Nowhere is the absence or presence distance races between 400m and a Eubank, 29, is referring to the fact that he was Groves in 2011, but some now see him as a How they compare Before the fight with Jack in New York, Leroy the first British how there are parts of the body he cannot move of testes mentioned in the 10,000 mile as those where the rules will born into money. His father, the former WBO fighter in decline. A vicious draw with Badou and his wife, Diane, had to cancel a Caribbean boxer to win an after a fight, how he urinates blood for days, words of the IAAF’s regulations for apply — it says those are events middleweight and super-middleweight Jack in 2017, in which he lost two teeth, was DeGale Eubank cruise. It has happened again: a sixth holiday Olympic gold how he thinks he may be bipolar due to the DSD athletes, yet it now appears to be where the advantages of testo- champion, has loomed large over his career, followed by the loss of his IBF super- British Nationality British cancelled due to their son’s unpredictable career. medal and a scale of his highs and lows. Boxing is crushingly a main tenet of its case. sterone and higher levels of oxy- somewhere between a blessing and a curse. ‘I’ve never once sat down and middleweight title to the unexceptional Caleb 33 Age 29 “You can’t plan ahead,” he says. “Now we book professional lonely, which is why he keeps his family close, A statement released by the IAAF gen-carrying haemoglobin in From monocle to monster truck, the elder thought I need to be better Truax. Although he regained the title last April Southpaw Stance Orthodox everything last minute.” He will be there on world title, while along with Jim McDonnell, his long-term last week stated: “If a DSD the blood are greatest. Eubank has been easily lampooned since his before vacating it, doubts linger. 6’ 0” Height 5’ 11” Saturday but Diane will not. She will be Eubank Jr, right, trainer who plenty of people have told him to athlete has testes and male Whatever the out- warrior days, while his son has sometimes been than my dad. Everyone outside “He underestimated his opponent and did not 25 Won 27 watching on TV or lying down, counting the has struggled to leave over the years. Twice expelled from levels of testosterone, they come, many people are portrayed as a lesser talent trading on nepotism. “ have the motivation,” Eubank says. “His last few 2 Lost 2 minutes and waiting for the post-fight text. live up to the school, Degale was threatened with social get the same increases in going to be unhappy. If “For years my dad stopped me boxing because expects that, or wants that, but fights were not great but he knows I’m a 1 Draws 0 The past two years have been tough. The Jack reputation of his services at 15, whereupon his mum packed his bone and muscle size and Semenya loses, she will he did not think I would be tough enough,” he I don’t compare myself to him’ livewire.