Word: soundarajan
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Like Semenya, Soundarajan, 28, comes from extremely modest beginnings. Born in the village of Kathakkurichi to brick-kiln workers in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, she was a versatile athlete in school, competing in field hockey, middle-distance running and javelin. In 2004, an engineering college in Chennai, the state's biggest city, recruited Soundarajan with a scholarship to study computer technology. She was soon the college's star performer, setting an Indian record for the women's 3,000-m steeplechase. At a national meet in Bangalore in July...
...That was Soundarajan's last competition. Shortly after she was awarded the medal, she was asked to undergo a sex test, which she failed, leading Asian Games officials to strip her of her medal. Soundarajan was later diagnosed with AIS, or androgen insensitivity syndrome, a condition in which a genetic male is resistant to androgens, the male sex hormones that include testosterone, leading the body to appear externally female. "I cannot comment on the gender test as I am not a doctor, but the incident surely robbed India of a world-class athlete," says P. Nagarajan, her coach, who recruited...
Despite rumors of an attempted suicide (which Soundarajan has denied) and frustration over her interrupted athletic career, Soundarajan has found a new calling in coaching, sounding content in a recent interview. She was attending a track meet in Pudukkottai, where she returned after losing her medal. "It was difficult but now finally I feel O.K.," she says with a laugh. The state government of Tamil Nadu awarded her a television set and a cash prize as a show of support after Doha. Soundarajan took that money - a little more than $30,000 - and in 2007 started a sports academy...
Plans for her own comeback have long been abandoned. "I would like to, but I know I can't," Soundarajan says. "I am physically and mentally totally broken." She would have loved to compete for India in last year's Olympic Games, but says she was too scared to return to competitive running. "We did try to convince her many times to get back on the tracks," says Pudukkottai district sports officer Kannuswamy. "But she even refuses to talk about it. And now it's too late...
...late for Semenya. "She should not let them take away her medal," Soundarajan says, or allow one test to determine her fate. "She is a woman and that's it, full stop," Soundarajan says. "A gender test cannot take away from...