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Gonads: Dutee

In 2014, India’s Dutee Chand was a rising female track and field star, crushing national records. But then, that summer, something unexpected happened: she failed a gender test. And was banned from the sport. Before she knew it, Dutee was thrown into the middle of a controversy that started long before her, and continues on today: how to separate males and females in sport. First aired in 2018, Dutee and the story of female athletes in sport are back in the spotlight this week, at the Tokyo Olympics. Join us for an update on Dutee’s second Olympic games, and the continued role testosterone has in shaping who is on the track, and who is off.  This story was originally released as part of Gonads, a six-part series on the parts of us that make more of us. It is a companion piece to Gonads, episode 5: Dana. This update was reported by Molly Webster, with reporting and producing by Sarah Qari. "Dutee" was reported by Molly Webster, with co-reporting and translation by Sarah Qari. It was produced by Pat Walters, with production help from Jad Abumrad and Rachael Cusick. The Gonads theme was written, performed, and produced by Majel Connery and Alex Overington. Special thanks to Geertje Mak, Maayan Sudai, Andrea Dunaif, Bhrikuti Rai, Joe Osmundson, and Payoshni Mitra. Plus, former Olympic runner Madeleine Pape, who is currently studying regulations around female, transgender, and intersex individuals in sport. Radiolab is supported in part by Science Sandbox, a Simons Foundation initiative dedicated to engaging everyone with the process of science. And the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, enhancing public understanding of science and technology in the modern world. More information about Sloan at www.sloan.org. Support Radiolab today at Radiolab.org/donate. 
Duration
50m
Broadcast on
05 Aug 2021
Audio Format
other

In 2014, India’s Dutee Chand was a rising female track and field star, crushing national records. But then, that summer, something unexpected happened: she failed a gender test. And was banned from the sport. Before she knew it, Dutee was thrown into the middle of a controversy that started long before her, and continues on today: how to separate males and females in sport. First aired in 2018, Dutee and the story of female athletes in sport are back in the spotlight this week, at the Tokyo Olympics. Join us for an update on Dutee’s second Olympic games, and the continued role testosterone has in shaping who is on the track, and who is off. 

This story was originally released as part of Gonads, a six-part series on the parts of us that make more of us. It is a companion piece to Gonads, episode 5: Dana.

This update was reported by Molly Webster, with reporting and producing by Sarah Qari.

"Dutee" was reported by Molly Webster, with co-reporting and translation by Sarah Qari. It was produced by Pat Walters, with production help from Jad Abumrad and Rachael Cusick. The Gonads theme was written, performed, and produced by Majel Connery and Alex Overington.

Special thanks to Geertje Mak, Maayan Sudai, Andrea Dunaif, Bhrikuti Rai, Joe Osmundson, and Payoshni Mitra. Plus, former Olympic runner Madeleine Pape, who is currently studying regulations around female, transgender, and intersex individuals in sport.

Radiolab is supported in part by Science Sandbox, a Simons Foundation initiative dedicated to engaging everyone with the process of science. And the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, enhancing public understanding of science and technology in the modern world. More information about Sloan at www.sloan.org.

Support Radiolab today at Radiolab.org/donate. 


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Hey, this is Chad, before we start, in case kids are listening, just know that this episode contains, well, Molly curses a little bit in this one. I do too. Oh, wait, you're listening to Radialab. From WNYC. Hi, this is Radialab, I'm Latif Nasser. I'm Molly Webster. And today, we have in the spirit of what's going on right now, we have an Olympics flavored episode to play for you. It's older, but actually still in the running, maybe? I mean, it was three years ago, so not old, but maybe not young. And it's probably still changing. Yeah. And Molly was the one who reported it. Yeah, we did this series called gonads. That's right. And this was a part of that. And it really hits you in the heart. Yeah, it is an interview that has stayed with me in the three years since we first aired it. It involves someone who is at this year's Olympics, and I have a little bit of updates, but I want to do them at the end. So let's just listen to the episode, and then we can pop back in at the end. All right. Hello. from India. Hello, duty. Hi. How are you? I called her with more perfect producer, Sara Kari. I was having Sara translate duty speaks Hindi. We caught up with her in Hyderabad, where she's currently training. And I called her because a few years ago, right as her career was taking off, she caught up in this male strum that almost ended it. And throughout the series, we've been asking all these questions about biological sex inside the body. And this moment in her life takes all of those questions and thrusts them out into the world in a very public way. Hey, just to start at the beginning. I'm from a village in Orisa called Chaka Gopalpur. There are nine people in my family. Six sisters, one brother, and my parents. And my oldest sister is the one who got me into running when I was five years old. Duty sister was a track star in school. And as I got older, she started training me. There was no track to run on, so I would run along the edge of the river or on the road or in the village. Our family was poor and we couldn't afford shoes, so I would run barefoot. And the tiny pebbles in the road would get stuck in my feet. My sister pushed me. She didn't let me slack off when I would complain or not want to train. Years went on, she kept training with her sister, and she just got faster and faster and faster until 2012 she had this big break. I'm trying to think of how old she was then. I think she was 16. This is a journalist who has spoken to and written about duty Ruth Padawar. Contributing writer at the New York Times magazine. And Ruth says what happens in 2012 is duty qualifies for the National Youth Championships in Bangalore. And she wins the 100 meters in 11.8 seconds. And usually Indian female runners are running that same race in 12.2 or 12.3 seconds, like grown-up professional runners while she's still a teenager. And then the next year, she goes back to the Youth National Championships and wins gold in the 100 meters and the 200 meters. That same year, still 2013.

Transcription truncated.

In 2014, India’s Dutee Chand was a rising female track and field star, crushing national records. But then, that summer, something unexpected happened: she failed a gender test. And was banned from the sport. Before she knew it, Dutee was thrown into the middle of a controversy that started long before her, and continues on today: how to separate males and females in sport. First aired in 2018, Dutee and the story of female athletes in sport are back in the spotlight this week, at the Tokyo Olympics. Join us for an update on Dutee’s second Olympic games, and the continued role testosterone has in shaping who is on the track, and who is off.  This story was originally released as part of Gonads, a six-part series on the parts of us that make more of us. It is a companion piece to Gonads, episode 5: Dana. This update was reported by Molly Webster, with reporting and producing by Sarah Qari. "Dutee" was reported by Molly Webster, with co-reporting and translation by Sarah Qari. It was produced by Pat Walters, with production help from Jad Abumrad and Rachael Cusick. The Gonads theme was written, performed, and produced by Majel Connery and Alex Overington. Special thanks to Geertje Mak, Maayan Sudai, Andrea Dunaif, Bhrikuti Rai, Joe Osmundson, and Payoshni Mitra. Plus, former Olympic runner Madeleine Pape, who is currently studying regulations around female, transgender, and intersex individuals in sport. Radiolab is supported in part by Science Sandbox, a Simons Foundation initiative dedicated to engaging everyone with the process of science. And the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, enhancing public understanding of science and technology in the modern world. More information about Sloan at www.sloan.org. Support Radiolab today at Radiolab.org/donate.