Soon after I arrived in Seoul, Korea, for the 1988 Olympic Games to complete in the women’s 3,000-meter race, I was informed that I needed to report for a gender verification test. I had never heard of such a thing, and was pretty nervous as to what I was expected to do. I was relieved to discover that all I needed to do was have my cheek swabbed. Cheek cells were collected and checked for possible XY chromosomes.
I only wish that there had been as much attention paid to unusually high levels of testosterone in some of the women who competed. It was obvious that some of the female athletes had resorted to injecting themselves with males hormones in order to increase their strength and stamina. That year I finished sixth in the 3,000 meter run with a time of 8:37.25.