Top 10 scandals in the history of sports

Santhi Soundarajan gender test, 2006

India’s Santhi Soundarajan lies on the track after edging out Kazakhstan’s Viktoriya Yalovtseva for second place in the women’s 800m final on the second day of the athletics competition for the 15th Asian Games at Khalifa Stadium in Doha. Indian athlete Santhi Soundarajan, was stripped of her Asian Games silver medal for what was branded a failed gender test.

In December 2006, Santhi Soundarajan had won the silver medal at the 15th Asian Games held in Doha when she crossed the line in 2 minutes, 3.16 seconds. It was a moment to rejoice for the middle distance runner who had overcome troubling times and a lot of hardship to get to the podium.

But the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) then requested her to take a sex test to determine if she was actually a woman. The result came back negative and stated that she “does not possess the sexual characteristics of a woman”. Her coach, P. Nagarajan mentioned that her poor upbringing in rural India could have influenced the result.

She was stripped of her silver medal and castigated by a number of outlets for “cheating”. Although she did receive support from the Tamil Nadu government, she attempted suicide in 2007 by consuming a veterinary drug. But she soon took up coaching and trained many students who eventually won the Chennai marathon.