Real Olympic Drama: Caster Semenya, Feyisa Lilesa and Rio

Edge of Sports

Dave Zirin / The Nation

Sports, History, News, Politics, Sports News

4.8 • 619 Ratings

🗓️ 26 August 2016

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

As Feyisa Lilesa of Ethiopia crossed the finish line to win silver in the olympic marathon in Rio, he raised his arms and crossed them above his head in protest against his own government. With this simple act, Lilesa brought the world’s attention to the plight of his Oromo people and the struggle to keep their land out of Ethiopia’s ruling party's hands. Feyisa Lilesa has etched himself into Olympic protest history and we salute him with the ‘Just Stand Up’ award. But first, I speak with scholar Katrina Karkazis about Caster Sememya. Not only did the South African blaze past all her competitors for gold in the women’s 800 meters, Semenya did so under the most intense media scrutiny, while guarded by an ever-present security detail, and with her sport’s governing bodies, the IOC and IAAF, still governing women’s bodies in invasive and illogical ways. ’Choice Words’ is about the real Olympic drama, which begins now that the games are over. And finally, we hear from listeners who called the Edge of Sports hotline at: (401) 236-3343 (EDGE). This week, we want to know: who was your most iconic athlete or performance of the Rio Games? And why?Katrina Karkazis: https://twitter.com/karkazis | http://katrinakarkazis.comThe Guardian: “The ignorance aimed at Caster Semenya flies in the face of the Olympic spirit”https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/23/caster-semenya-olympic-spirit-iaaf-athletes-womenNew African Magazine: “Feyisa Lilesa: the new symbol of Ethiopian resistance”http://newafricanmagazine.com/feyisa-lilesa-new-symbol-ethiopian-resistance/The Nation: This Rio Olympic Medalist Risked His Life to Show Solidarity https://www.thenation.com/article/my-government-will-kill-me-one-runners-olympic-courage/Feyisa Lilesa crowdfunding: https://www.gofundme.com/2kykuuxsThe Nation: Now That the Games Are Over, the Real Olympic Drama Begins in Rio https://www.thenation.com/article/now-that-the-games-are-over-the-real-olympic-drama-begins-in-rio/—http://edgeofsportspodcast.com | http://twitter.com/edgeofsports | http://fb.com/edgeofsportspod | email us: edgeofsports@slate.com—music by: Badsista & Tap https://soundcloud.com/badsista, https://soundcloud.com/t_a_p92, via Beatwise Recordings https://beatwiserecordings.bandcamp.cominstrumentals: Pharcyde - Runnin (J. Dilla production) Cam’Ron - Horse & Carriage (Trackmasters production) Jadakiss - We Gonna Make It (The Alchemist production)Sea'ad Awwal "Nama Nyaata" for Feyisa Lilesa By Raya Studio 2016 https://youtu.be/WBtj3aZamnc Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Welcome to the Edge of Sports podcast. We are back from Rio to talk about why the real Olympic story begins now.
0:16.9	We are also going to talk about what could in time go down as the most historically important
0:22.0	gold medal from these games, the triumph of South African 800-meter champ, Castor Semenya.
0:31.1	Semenya is going to have to peel off the back of Nian Saba shortly.
0:35.1	She does that now.
0:36.3	She's normally got a devastating kick when she goes. And goes she does. And she goes from two metres behind to two meters in front of the top of the lane. Semenya running for gold now in front of Nian Sabah and Bishop and Wamboui. But she's left the others in her wake. And Kasta Semenya is going to do what most people thought she were doing,
0:54.8	the 800, and she runs away and wins it brilliantly. She has destroyed them in the last 200 meters,
1:01.4	and that was the way that a lot of people thought she would become the Olympic champion.
1:17.5	And to explain the Semenya drama, which involves sex testing, gender policing,
1:21.8	and a whole host of issues which we will be talking about for decades. Our first guest is a senior research scholar at the Center for Biomedical Ethics at Stanford University.
1:29.6	Her research on sex testing policies has been written up in outlets like the New York Times
1:34.7	and The Guardian, and she is at work on a new book with Rebecca Jordan Young called T, the
1:39.8	unauthorized biography.
1:41.5	And that's not about Mr. T.
1:43.0	That's about testosterone and the many scientific
1:45.9	and social identities of testosterone in the world of sports. Her name is Katrina Carcassus.
1:53.8	For our listeners who are new to this topic, can you walk us through what Castor Semenia has had to
1:59.9	confront and overcome and root to winning
2:03.0	that 800-meter gold medal? Yeah, you know, it's tragic to me because this is an athlete
2:09.3	who since the time that her name was leaked to the press of being investigated in the 2009
2:16.9	Berlin World Championships, and her name was leaked
2:20.0	by the IAAF, has been ostracized by nearly everyone, and it's been unrelenting for seven years.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Dave Zirin / The Nation, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Dave Zirin / The Nation and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.