Three men won the women’s 800 meter
Athletics Canada’s former head coach has come forward to reveal that he was threatened by the Canadian Olympic Committee lawyers after expressing discontent with the results of the women’s 800m at the 2016 Olympic Games. The competition saw three biological males take the top spots, displacing the female Canadian bid to fourth place.
Peter Eriksson, the record-making former head coach for the Canadian Olympic and Paralympic program, spoke to Reduxx about what happened at the 2016 session in Rio, and the consequences he faced if he spoke out on behalf of Canadian athlete Melissa Bishop. Bishop placed fourth after three males competed in the female division.
In the 800m women’s race, Caster Semenya of South Africa took home gold, with Francine Niyonsaba of Burundi placing silver and Margaret Nyairera Wambui of Kenya finishing with bronze. All three of the athletes have Differences of Sexual Development (DSD) and while they are recognized as “female” legally, they possess XY chromosomes and are biologically male.
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Speaking to Reduxx, former Athletics Canada head coach Peter Eriksson says that he was outraged at the results of the 2016 women’s 800m, and had wanted to speak out against the injustice on behalf of Melissa Bishop, the Canadian female runner who would have come in first place if not for the three male athletes.
“I was the first one to see Melissa after the race and what do you even say in that scenario? ‘You’re the best woman in the race?’ You don’t get a medal for that,” Eriksson says. “This was such an injustice I wanted to speak out, and then I got a call from the Canadian Olympic Committee’s lawyer saying that if I opened my mouth, I would be banned for life in sport.”
Isn’t that interesting. Three men cheat three women out of medals, and the Canadian Olympic Committee’s lawyer threatens a coach into shutting up about it.
Eriksson explained that, at the time, World Athletics claimed there was a lack of evidence on the advantage possessed by DSD athletes, but that there had been no confusion on the ground about what Semenya and the others were.
“Everybody knew Caster Semenya, for example, was a male. Everybody was aware of it, but I think that World Athletics didn’t want to do anything,” Eriksson says.
Cool. When in doubt, go for letting the men cheat the women out of their medals. When in doubt, let the stronger trample the weaker in the usual way.
Linda Blade, a Canadian coach and vocal advocate for the rights of female athletes, was first to renew interest in the results of the 2016 women’s 800m results after posting information about the threats Eriksson received to her Twitter.
Blade added her own commentary to the matter, tweeting: “Our own country’s leadership would rather sellout to a cult rather than to defend one of our champions – even at the expense of waving GOODBYE to #Olympic Gold!! Sacrificing a woman and her entire career on the alter of #GenderIdeology. Just let that sink in.”
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Blade has called on the International Olympic Committee and World Athletics to rectify the results of the 2016 Olympics for Bishop, asking for the gold to be retroactively reassigned in the same way that is sometimes done in doping cases.
Eriksson agrees with Blade, and also believes that Bishop should be given her medal.
But it won’t happen.
I’ve gone back and forth in my mind regarding Caster Semenya. Helen Joyce, in “Trans”, is supportive of Semenya and other athletes who have DSDs and who grew up thinking they were female. There are specifics in Semenya’s case that I think counter some of the views expressed by HJ, and I think I lean more to the view now that Semenya should not be allowed to compete in the women’s division.
But the main issue isn’t Semenya and other athletes with DSDs, it’s the fact that it’s impossible to discuss the situation, as well-described in the OP here. Threats and sanctions against people for daring to question? That’s bullying, not a way to make sound policy.
NO DEBATE
As soon as someone says that, it is nearly certain there are no good arguments for their position.
Not taking away anything from how hard athletes work to make it to the Olympics, but you don’t make it to the Olympics without ALSO winning the genetic lottery to some degree, and avoiding serious injury, and getting the coaching and family support you need, and a million other things. Lots of people have their “Olympic dreams” crushed through no fault of their own, so I’m not terribly sympathetic to the argument that someone like Semenya should get to compete because otherwise it’s not fair. It’s not fair that I’m not six foot four, either.
I don’t think it is accurate to say World Athletics claimed there was a lack of evidence, the Court of Arbitration in Sport did. Rules were put in place in 2011, (which included women with conditions like PCOS), but they were challenged by Dutee Chand in 2014, and in 2015 the Court for Arbitration in Sport suspended the rules, saying World Athletics needed to produce evidence to support the claim that male DSD athletes have an unfair advantage and gave it 2 years to make its case for the rules.
World Athletics did so in 2017 (I don’t think it was feasible for them to do it before 2016) and in 2018 issued new rules. Semenya challenged them and they were suspended until she lost the case on 2019. The rules were revised again in 2019. Semenya has spent years challenging them, and has lost at every level, although an appeal has been made to the European Court of Human Rights.
And the women who genuinely took second and third should get their medals too. And the top 8 women should get their certificates.