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Fa0019

Listed below are comments made by Fa0019 between Sunday, 5th July 2009 and Thursday, 20th August 2009.

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Semenya left stranded by storm 09:22am on 20 Aug 2009 What is the issue here.... is it that she has some seemingly male features or is that no woman should be running those times at that age?

If testing is not as easy as a visual clarification by doctors then surely every single female athlete should be tested in this manner.

If that is so, how can we be sure that any female athlete does not have hidden (even from themselvs) unnatural male hormones which helps them to perform better in sport.

I myself believe that testing her to that degree is unfair and it must be very humiliating.

Even if she has only female reproductive organs from what I've read she can still be classified as having male characteristics and thus be banned from all future female competition.

That is insane. If that is so then how is she different from the following people

People born and raised at altitude. They develop greater oxygen carrying capacities and therefore are at an advantage to those living at sea level.
It is surprise that the majority of middle-long distance races will be won by Kenyan/Ethiopian atheletes specifically from the highland regions of their nations?

What about Eero Mäntyranta. He was a finnish skiier in the 60s who won 3 cross country skiing gold medals. He was born with a genetic defect which raised his natural levels of EPO to unnatural and arguably unfair levels (taking additional EPO is banned in sport).

In essence if we test girl beyond a basic physical examination we should test every single femal athlete in that manner but also test every single male athlete also for genetic abnormalities which aid their performance.
Springbok legends? 08:45am on 06 Jul 2009 I still don't think you could call this a great bok side.. not yet at least. Ok, they won a home series against the lions but they haven't won the tri-nations since 2004 and their away record in that competition is dismal.... 4 wins in 30 matches in the competitions 12 years.

When England won the RWC03 they put together a winning streak of 14 consecutive victories over all 3 tri-nations teams, home and away. South Africa needs to start to match records like that and those of the 97-98 boks who won 17 games in a row to be called a great team.

Thye won the world cup in 07 yes, but the only notable teams they played to win were Argentina and England.... who were ranked 7th in the world at the time. You can't choose who you play but the tournament was heavily weighted on one side at the knock-out stage with Australia, England, France and New Zealand all competiting for one place.

The other teams SA were fighting for the one place in the RWC07 final was Fiji, Argentina and Scotland. Not exactly the same calibre (no disrespect intended) as the other half.

They had the easiest run in of any RWC champions and didn't have to fight like they did in 95 when they beat Australia, France and New Zealand.

Nevertheless put a string of tri-nations victories together and regularly beat the major sides away from home up to the RWC11 and yeah I would call them a great side.
Will the Lions roar again in future? 10:01pm on 05 Jul 2009 I don't even know why there is a debate. Have people looked into how difficult it is to win test matches away from home?

Take the world champions, South Africa for example. Since the game turned professional post RWC95 they have played Aus and NZ 30 times away from home and have won.......... only 4 times. Thats a win percentage of 13%.

The Lions have Played 12 matches in that time and won 4. Alright, its not perfect and we should have won more but thats a far better record than SA have in terms of winning percentage away from home against the other two traditional lions series opposition and the lions is not even an established side....

The lions do not have the luxuries of time to build their side and relationships between players and management.
This has been a great series regardless of the fact we lost the series. Long may they continue.

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