After the turmoil of steroid use during a track and field career, Marion Jones is considering a comeback. She is considering a return to competition as a basketball player:

“The former track star Marion Jones was released from federal prison about 15 months ago, but her comeback officially began Monday at the Antioch Community Center when the she announced her intentions to return to competitive athletics. The 34 year old former world class sprinter and mother to three young children looks to be in great shape, something she credits, in part, to her time in prison. But this time, she isn’t returning to the track. She is aiming to sign on with an WNBA team.”

link to the article by William C. Rhoden for The New York Times

[Photo by Chris Hondros/Getty Images]

This is Jordan Hasay’s freshman year at the University of Oregon. Many track and field fans are watching to see how she makes the transition to stronger competition at the collegiate level. She is doing very well:

“… Hasay, an Arroyo Grande native, ran the 6K women’s race in 20 minutes, 23.1 seconds, earning All-America honors by posting the Ducks’ best time and leading Oregon to a ninth-place team finish with 276 points at the event hosted by Indiana State.

“When I first finished, I was pretty disappointed,” Hasay said. “My goal was to get in the top 10 as an individual, and obviously, I wanted to do much better. It wasn’t my best day, but I hung in there the best I could, and to finish 18th in my first race (in Terre Haute), I’ll take it.”

link: Jordan Hasay earns All-America status for Oregon

Congratulation to Jordan Hasay. It is a stellar freshman year.

Catherine Forsythe

[Photo via Newscom]

Caster Semenya is still the reigning 800 metre champion. She will retain the win she earned at the 2009 world championship:

“… Caster Semenya will keep her gold medal, but her one-woman battle of the sexes goes on. The South African remains the 800 metres world champion and retains her $60,000 (about £36,000) prize money, but the question remains. What next?

The South African Ministry of Sport said in a statement that Semenya, who underwent sex tests both before and after winning in Berlin in August, had been found to be “innocent of any wrong”. However, that is an entirely different matter to whether she has an inter-sex condition that is deemed to give her an unfair advantage.”

link to the article by Rick Broadbent

[Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Bongarts/Getty Images]

University of Oregon freshman, Jordan Hasay, is making an impact. She competed at the Pac-10 Championships and ran well:

“Former Mission Prep standout Jordan Hasay finished third at the Pac-10 Cross Country Championships in Long Beach on Friday.

Hasay’s time of 19 minutes, 48 seconds was seven seconds behind teammate Nicole Blood, who won the women’s 6K race at the Sky Links Golf Course.”

link: Hasay finishes third at Pac-10 Championships

There were high expectations for Ms Hasay. In high school, she was one of the best middle distance runners in the United States. At the university/college level, Jordan Hasay does not disappoint.

Catherine Forsythe

There is no viable resolution to the Caster Semenya gender controversy. Since winning the 800 meters at the 2009 World Championships, Caster Semenya has not competed. There is no indication when she will compete again or even if she will be allowed to compete.

Now there are proposals to handle this controversy that border on the ridiculous:

“South Africa’s governing African National Congress has called for the results of gender tests carried out on runner Caster Semenya to be annulled.”

link:  Semenya tests ‘must be annulled’

Does this mean that the matter is settled or does it mean that the whole process begins anew? Having the test results annulled is meaningless. The annulled testing is not a decision on Caster Semenya’s track and field future. It simply means that this process will continue without any foreseeable resolution for this athlete.

Catherine Forsythe

[Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images]

The gender controversy regarding Caster Semenya continues. It involves governments, athletic governing bodies and even the United Nations. The unfortunate fact is that a resolution has not been reached:

“Track and field’s world governing body has begun trying to devise new rules about who can compete as a woman. This comes nearly two months after being presented with the case of Caster Semenya, the South African runner whose sex was questioned when she won the 800-meter world championship.”

link:  The Sex of Athletes: One Issue, Many Variables

While this matter of gender is analysed and debated, Caster Semenya waits. She has no idea when she will compete again or whether she will be allowed to compete.

A track athlete’s opportunity to perform at potential is a precariously small time frame. Sometimes, a injury may derail that opportunity. For Caster Semenya, it is simply uncertainty. And as more and more time passes, the matter may resolve itself. Caster Semenya will not be able to perform at a world class level and the debate will become mute, at least temporarily.

Then the injustice to Caster Semenya will be irreparable.

Catherine Forsythe

[Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images]

The gender controversy about Caster Semenya continues. It is being investigated and discussed, with no clear resolution forthcoming:

“The South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) expects its investigation into Athletics South Africa’s handling of the Caster Semenya gender saga to drag on longer than expected.

The probe got underway in Johannesburg on Friday but key people have not given evidence.”

link: SASCOC expects Semenya investigation to drag on

Caster Semenya’s track career is “in limbo”. There is no indication whether she will be able to compete again. Not only does this impact on her training but the opportunity to improve her running times is fading. Caster Semenya is the world champion at 800 meters. It would be shameful if that win at the World Championship happened to be her last race.

Catherine Forsythe

Will Caster Semenya compete? Will Caster Semenya be allowed to compete? The controversy surrounding track and field star Caster Semenya continues:

“South Africa’s governing party wants champion runner Caster Semenya to compete as a woman regardless of any gender tests.

African National Congress party spokesman Jackson Mthembu said Monday that Semenya had been brought up as a girl and should therefore “continue to run as a woman.”"

link: Ruling party says Semenya should run as woman

With governments, the United Nations and prominent figures like Winnie Madikizela-Mandela involved, this issue drags on and on. However, Caster Semenya only has a small time frame in which she can run at her peak level. It would be regrettable if that opportunity passes while gender debates continue.

Catherine Forsythe

In July 2008, Jordan Hasay set the American high school record for the 1500 meters. She did that at the U.S. Track and Field Olympic Trials that were held in Eugene, Oregon. The track and field fans who watched her performance embraced her and wooed her to attend the University of Oregon. And she did.

In her first competitive outing as a member of the Oregon Ducks, freshman Jordan Hasay did well:

“… Jordan, the most sought after female prep runner in the nation last year, lived up to the hype.

She did not win the 5-kilometer race but she finished sixth among the 85 women with a time of 16:39.7. She finished 17 seconds behind the winner Sheila Reid of Villanova. Jordan was actually the fifth fastest collegiate runner in the field, because one of the women who finished before her ran unattached.”

link: Jordan Hasay finishes 6th in collegiate debut

The level of competition now is different for Ms Hasay. She will be running against more experienced, older runners. The indications from this first run is that Jordan Hasay will live up to the expectation of those track savvy fans in Eugene, Oregon.

Catherine Forsythe

additional link:  Cross Country: Hasay finishes sixth in debut

additional link:  Ducks finish in top five at Dellinger Invitational

[Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images]

Sarah Graham has an ‘open letter’ article to Caster Semenya, who is the track and field athlete at the center of the gender controversy, in which Graham writes from first-hand experience with androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS):

“… Whatever happens in these next few weeks, whatever the truth behind all the rumours, media leaks and gossip, I promise you will discover the truth that most human beings are kind-hearted and that the human heart is by far the most important human organ; it has no gender and it’s not interested in your sex.

When I was 25 I found out suddenly that I am an intersex XY woman.”

link to the article by Sarah Graham

Sarah Graham is on Twitter at this account:  @sarahgraham69

[Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images]