By Riath Al-samarrai for The Mail on Sunday
Published: 22:36 BST, 4 May 2019 | Updated: 22:36 BST, 4 May 2019
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It has occasionally been lost in the avalanche of views that Caster Semenya is not the only victim of the landmark case that has been fought in her image. To understand that more, it was necessary to see Lynsey Sharp after her race in Doha on Friday.
While Semenya has plainly been a picture of dignity through an immense ordeal over the better part of a decade, and particularly in the duration of the recent court proceedings, the treatment of Sharp by some pertaining to be supporters of Semenya has been shocking.
According to the Scot on Friday it has included death threats to her and her family. Her apparent crime in all this saga was to say after the 2016 Olympic 800m final that it had been 'difficult' to race against Semenya and other athletes with what we now term 'differences of sexual development'.
Lynsey Sharp (left) has been a victim of shocking treatment by supporters of Caster Semenya
To offer a reminder, she finished sixth in that race, with Semenya first ahead of Francine Niyonsaba, who said recently that she has raised testosterone levels, and Margaret Wambui, who took bronze.
There have been reports about Wambui's testosterone levels as well. By commenting on that situation, Sharp became a face of the opposition, and has drawn a vile response on social media, which rather makes light of the fact she knows the subject better than most, having written her dissertation on it.
She had declined to comment when contacted by the Daily Mail ahead of the Court of Arbitration for Sport's ruling on Wednesday, but on Friday laid bare the pain of speaking out, while stressing there was no winner in the verdict.
