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Monday, Nov 9, 2009
The gender-bending grandmother was suddenly the biggest story in England. "We have all heard stories of the bloodsucking English reporters, and I experienced it," Jager says. "There must have been 25 of these guys. I had to be escorted everywhere I went." The English tabloids raced to the story like sharks to blood. "Is This a Man or a Woman?" the Evening Chronicle shouted. Jager, always the optimist, was flabbergasted. "How could this be happening? I started looking at myself and saying, 'Do I look all that different from the other athletes?'"
Jager eventually submitted to a physical examination. "In deep, complete," as she describes it, rolling her eyes. The results of Jager's physical exam were announced over the meet's P.A. system before she ran her 200-meter final. Jager was indeed a woman. "To my relief, it turned into a very wonderful experience. The warmth was incredible. People from all over the stadium came up to me and say they wanted to hug me and support me," Jager recalls.
The English press, which had lined the infield fence and appeared ready to crucify Jager, instead sainted her. Like any media star, she got her own one-word nickname: "Supergran!" Jager had survived the embarrassment of a gender challenge. She'd felt the support of the crowd. And now she was going to race against the current age-group 200-meter world record holder, 59-year-old Brunhilde Hoffmann from Germany.
When the gun sounded, Jager ran with fury. She beat the German by three-tenths of a second and eclipsed Hoffman's then world record by a tenth. "I don't think I could have been any prouder of being in the international Olympics as a youth as I am of what I did at the WAVA Championships," says Jager. "It wasn't about the medals or setting the record. I was proud of that, but what I was most proud of was that I didn't fall apart."
She felt like an Olympian as she waved to the crowd, her childhood dreams fulfilled at 56. And then an official asked her to submit to a drug test. A dehydrated Jager's only worry was being able to urinate on command. While waiting for a glass of water, Jager filled out the official forms. She listed the medications she was taking, among them: Norvasc for hypertension, ibuprofen for her knees and Estratest HS for her hot flashes. Jager drank the water.
Finally, with the official watching, Jager squatted over a cup to urinate, just like a real Olympian.
When Jager returned home from Gateshead, she didn't shoot any "I'm going to Disneyland" commercials. But the gender row did entice tabloid TV, and she landed on the "Sally Jesse Raphael Show." "It was fun," Jager says.
The fun stopped in mid-August when Jager received a certified letter from USA Track and Field, the organization that oversees the sport in the United States. The letter explained that the International Amateur Athletic Federation, the organization overseeing track and field worldwide, found methyltestosterone metabolites in her Gateshead urine sample. In layman's terms, she had tested positive for anabolic steroids. The letter demanded an acceptable explanation, or Jager would face a two-year suspension.
"I thought, this has to be a mistake, that they got my test mixed up with someone else's. I honestly couldn't think what could have happened," Jager says. She contacted her physician, Dr. Debora Villa, who had a suspect: The hormone replacement pills she had prescribed, Estratest HS, contained 1.25 milligrams of methyltestosterone, a synthetic testosterone. Traditional hormone therapies usually boost only the amount of a woman's estrogen, but some women -- such as Jager -- benefit from the addition of synthetic testosterone. Methyltestosterone is a banned substance in track and field and in the Olympics, but 1.25 milligrams per day is a small dose, a fraction of the up to 100 milligrams per day of methyltestosterone male bodybuilders take to build their Schwarzeneggerian bulk.
Kathy and Carl Jager quickly formulated a defense and sent a letter to the IAAF, backed with a letter from Dr. Villa. Asking to have the positive test thrown out, the Jagers argued that Estratest was used solely as a hormone replacement therapy, not for any competitive advantage.
The Jagers also pointed out that the drug was commonly used -- more than 350 million tablets had been prescribed since 1989. And finally the Jagers claimed Kathy wasn't adequately briefed about banned substances by American authorities because USA Track and Field does not conduct drug tests at masters meets in the U.S.
The Jagers wrote dozens of letters, e-mails and faxes to the IAAF, WMA and USA Track and Field. Ultimately, WMA had the last word in the Jager case. Not until December 2000, more than 16 months after the initial drug test, did WMA officially rule on Jager's petition for early reinstatement. It denied her request. She would remain banned from track and field for a full two years.
Jager cried when she received the news. "It never ever occurred to me the severity of what had happened. I thought the problem wasn't that big of a deal. To me, it seemed so obvious that this was something that was not being used with intent to cheat," she says.
