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.
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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