VIDEO: Man or Woman? Track Star Caster Semenya Ordered To Undergo Gender Test
Aug. 20 2009, Published 1:18 p.m. ET
South African track star Caster Semenya "doesn't give a damn" about critics' whispers she was born with something that would help her dominate the spectrum of women's sports: a penis.
The 18-year-old athlete, an unknown weeks ago whose out-of-the-blue ascent resulted in her first 800-meter world title Wednesday's World Track and Field Championships, has been ordered by the sport's commissioning office, IAAF, to undergo a gender test after her breakout performance.
Officials said the test, a complicated one which could take weeks to finish, is only being administered to determine whether Semenya has "a medical condition" -- not because she is suspected of cheating via sex change.
"I have no idea about that thing, I have not heard about that thing, who said it?" Semenya, whose gravely voice, hairy armpits and shredded physique might have hastened the rumor mill, told reporters.
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Her father, Jacob, defended her to the local press.
"She is my little girl," he told the Sowetan newspaper. "I raised her and I have never doubted her gender. She is a woman and I can repeat that a million times."
Semenya will receive her medal in a ceremony Thursday.
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