Failed sex test a "Games rule violation", says OCA
Indian athlete Santhi Soundarajan has been officially stripped of her Asian Games silver medal for what the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) said was a "Games rule violation."
Indian officials had said on Monday that Soundarajan, who won the women's 800m silver at Doha, had failed a gender verification test carried out by the OCA's medical committee.
The OCA, however, sought to be more discreet and wrote to the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) that Soundarajan had been "disqualified as per the recommendations of the medical committee on a Games rule violation."
Viktoriya Yalovtseva of Kazakhstan, who won the 800m bronze, will now be awarded the silver medal and fourth-placed Zamira Amirova of Uzbekistan the bronze.
The event was won by Maryam Jussuf Jamal of Bahrain.
The gender verification test, which is not mandatory but carried out if officials want it or a rival protests, was done soon after Soundarajan finished second in the 800m on December 9.
She was withdrawn from the 1,500m and sent home once the initial report was handed over to Indian Games officials, an Athletics Federation of India (AFI) source had said on Monday.
Even as the OCA discreetly avoided any mention of a failed sex test to prevent embarrassment and mental agony to the athlete, Indian sports officials were not so caring.
Manmohan Singh, who heads the IOA's medical unit, had told reporters on Monday: "Santhi was subjected to a gender test in Doha and we have received the report which says she failed the test."
Media reports said the OCA medical panel apparently ordered a gender verification test after a doping control officer reported the athlete.
The panel to decide gender cases usually comprises, among others, a gynaecologist, an endocrinologist, a psychologist and a genetic expert. A range of tests, including a blood test, are carried out.
Athletes who fail gender tests can seek a review by an expert panel after two years following surgery and hormone therapy.
The 25-year-old Soundarajan, whose parents are brick-kiln workers, hails from the village of Kathakkurichi in Pudukkottai district of the southern state of Tamil Nadu.
On Monday, Tamil Nadu state chief minister M. Karunanidhi brushed aside the controversy and presented a cheque of 1.5 million rupees (33,500 dollars) to Soundarajan for her Asiad performance.
"I do not want to talk about it," Soundarajan was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India when reporters at the presentation ceremony questioned her about the failed test.
Soundarajan had cleared the gender test at the Asian track and field championships in the South Korean city of Incheon last year where she won the silver in the 800m.
She also won the gold medal in the 1,500m at the South Asian Games in Colombo in August and was declared the best athlete at the Indian national championships in New Delhi in September.
A media report said Soundarajan had been refused employment in the Indian railways last year because its medical panel "was not satisfied about her gender."
This was the second controversy to hit the Indian track and field team within a month. Female shot putter Seema Antil was withdrawn from the Asian Games after she failed a pre-competition dope test.
AFP
