Daily Lesson from Life 27 July 2008

"China sets up Olympic sex determination lab It will test female Olympic athletes suspected to be males. - Sun, Jul 27, 2008 AFP

BEIJING, CHINA - OLYMPIC host Beijing has set up a sex determination lab to test female Olympic athletes suspected to be males, state media reported on Sunday.

Experts at the lab, located at the Peking Union Medical College Hospital, will evaluate dubious cases based on their external appearance and take blood samples testing sex hormones, genes and chromosomes, Xinhua news agency said.

Sex testing has been routine at the Olympics and other sports events for decades, triggered by fears that male athletes sought to cheat by posing as women.

Indian athlete Santhi Soundarajan was stripped of an Asian Games silver medal in 2006 after failing a gender verification test."


The Big-O is just a few more days to go. While I am in PRC I get bombarded by how the hosts are doing everything they can to make this a grand success. A coming out party for PRC to the world MUST not failed. No 'male posing as female' will get away with cheating too!

I think this is less of an issue than the threat of terrorists' attacks, civil unrest due to certain people vending their frustration or anger at injustice being done on them.

The lessons from me are:

1. the Olympics' ideals must be upheld at all costs. No cheat should be allowed. DNA, whatever tests needed must be applied without reservation. Hopefully the tests are fair and reliable and dignified to the athletes being tested;

2. focus on the bigger picture of mobilizing millions of volunteers, hundred of thousands of paying spectators, including thousands of foreign visitors, safely and orderly. Many of the standard operating procedures are established and promulgated. Hopefully people will seriously take them up to their hearts and practice them till it become a good habit!;

3. while cheating through gender may be real, cheating through biased or downright unfair refereeing is sometime the hosts need to be aware of. Let's not be accused of such deeds by competitors from other countries. There are tremendous pressure to excel and be the No. 1 gold medal nation as the host. But it must be done on a fair and dignified manner.

All the best to the Big-O and may peace prevail throughout this period!