Meet Maria Patino, The Latino Woman/”Man” Athlete Who Already Went Through This Gender Nonsense Decades Ago

Gender testing for female athletes, like that going on now for Caster Semenya, is nothing new: it’s been around since the 60’s! And in 1985 it ensnared Spanish hurdler Maria Jose Martinez-Patino, who was stripped of her medals when it turned out she wasn’t genetically female.

Maria Patino was born with a condition known as Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (AIS) that, basically, made her by-all-appearances female, just with recessed testicles that wouldn’t be apparent without a thorough medical exam (like that one supermodel girl on House. Remember?) Basically, in the womb everyone is a woman unless a Y chromosome shows up and starts sending out all kinds of hormones that shut the lady factory down and starts making boy parts. People with AIS have XY chromosomes, but don’t have the receptors for the male hormones, so female reproductive organs don’t form and the testes just kind of hang around in the body. But physically, the AIS woman appears totally female, vagina and all, and usually cuts quite an imposing figure (like the supermodel on House. Remember?)

Anyway, Maria failed a DNA test before the 1985 World Championships in Kobe, Japan and was asked by Spanish officials to fake an injury to bow out of competition. She refused, competed, and won gold in the 60m hurdles, collapsing at the finish line. Her test result was revealed, though, and she returned to Spain in disgrace after having her medals stripped, her scholarship revoked and being kicked off the Spanish national team.

She fought for two years for reinstatement, eventually winning on the basis of her AIS (that is, that her faulty receptors actually made her resistant to the additional testosterone in her body and thus did not give her a competitive advantage.) She had, however, lost years of her prime in the fight. She failed to qualify for the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, missing the mark by hundredths of a second.

Our point still stands from yesterday: we don’t see what’s so wrong with athletes having God-given genetic advantages, particularly when those advantages are minuscule compared to those provided by illegal steroids. It’s still hard work that got them there and, in the case of Maria Patino, it’s as much a cultural freakout as anything else. Who cares? Let the XY ladies run! Bow before your genetic supermasters, and be thankful they can’t procreate or they’d dominate every sport!

Maria’s Story [MedHelp]
Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome [Transwoman]

Olympics Wise Up On Gender Testing, Finally [LiveScience]