Hmmm. I don't know about those hips and bust. I do know she's got the build that could whup the crap out of me in a fight.
Gender-verification has been around since the 60's, when the Irina and Tamara Press (pictured above) were dominating the Olympics in Hurdles/Pentathalon (Irina, on the left) and Shot-Putting (Tamara, on the right). It was the Cold War, and we didn't like those Russkies winning all them there medals..
In defense of the West, it has to be said that as soon as gender-testing was initiated at the Olympics, the Press sisters retired. The full story will never be known outside of Russia. Were they men deliberately ...um... modified? Were they hermaphrodites? Was it a natural genetic mix-up (which does happen, and does give inherent gender-based advantages to the athlete)? Or were the Russians and other Eastern European countries just decades ahead of the West in understanding what massive amounts of steroids can do for one's track-&-field performance?
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The Cold War is over, the Russians are no longer our mortal enemies, and I kinda have sympathy for the Press sisters. According to Wikipedia, Irina passed away a couple years ago, and Tamara became a civil engineer, wrote numerous books, and still holds an honorary office in Russian sports.
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We shall see how the testing turns out for Caster, but here's hoping she passes. One gets the feeling this isn't a case of deliberate cheating by South Africa. So if it is natural-occurring, it will be something Caster has no control over, and of course, quite embarrassing. There will be a zillion jokes, and the bottom line is - it's not the sort of thing I'd want to have happen to me.
