Santhi: fighting for her life

Sep 06: Santhi Soundarajan, in a desperate move tried to end her life. Santhi was stripped of the silver medal after she failed a gender test in Doha Asian Games in 2006. She won the medal in 800m race.

She was living in trauma after the incident in which she consumes veterinary medicine used to treat infected animals. She was taken to District Government Hospital and the doctor says she is critical and might slip to coma. However, Kapil Kumar Saratkar, SP, Padukottai said that her condition is stable but out of danger. Shanti is said to have consume floxidine which is highly toxic if consumed by human.

What led her to take such step is still not known. She was born to a poor family in a remote village of Tamil Nadu.

The state's sports secretary M. Raman said it seemed Santhi had attempted suicide "due to personal and domestic reasons and it had nothing to do with sports or any government action."

The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) announced that she has betrayed the sport community by competing as a woman, when she failed the gender test.

She pleaded that she has done no wrong and since been living in trauma.

The sex test is banned by Olympic Association since 1999, but Olympic Association of Asia continues it.

The gender or sex test came into being when it was realized that woman are achieving more and more excellence in sport, and question were raised regarding the faminity of the female players. Many female players were stripped of their medals. And to ensure the faminity various test were performed including naked parading and gynecologic examinations. This controversial method were replaced by Buccal Smear test in which the players cheek cell were taken ,fixed and examined for the presence of XX chromosomes. But this test too was suspected of its reliability. As it was found later that some XX (a case found in women) individual are not really females and XY individual are not really males.

A new DNA based method to detect the chromosomes was used in 1996, which consist of screening, confirmation and counseling. Most of the females who were stripped of their medals were having Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome. Females with Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome or testicular feminisation are genetically male because they have both X and Y chromosome. Their tissue cannot respond to androgens and they develop as a woman.

The test was opposed as it was still not reliable and it discriminate women having abnormal sexual development. And failing such test bring disgrace and may have shattering effect on the athlete who failed such test.

Shanti who also won the 1500 m gold in South Asian Games at Colombo, is fighting for her life… and reasons of her attempt to suicide is yet to be known.

But she was suffering because the glorious moment she wrote, was snatched by the unethical test ….

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