Bombshell Report: Gender Test Reveals South African Track Star Caster Semenya Is A "He/She"
Sept. 11 2009, Published 11:17 a.m. ET
The International Association of Athletics Federation -- the organization which oversees athletics worldwide -- says it will not comment on reports that gender tests performed on Caster Semenya show the South African track star is a hermaphrodite. Translation: Semenya has both male and female organs!
The IAAF says it will meet with the 18-year old before completing its report and will not comment further until after a council meeting in November.
Semenya was forced to undergo blood and chromosome tests, as well as a gynecological examination.
Australia's Sydney Morning Herald reported Friday that those tests reveal Semenya has no ovaries, but rather has internal male testes, which are producing large amounts of testosterone.
In an e-mail to The Associated Press, IAAF spokesman Nick Davies said, "I simply haven't seen the results. We have received the results from Germany, but they now need to be examined by a group of experts and we will not be in a position to speak to the athlete about them for at least a few weeks. After that, depending on the results, we will meet privately with the athlete to discuss further action."
Davies added the newspaper’s report “should be treated with caution.”
The IAAF has said Semenya probably would keep her medal because the case was not related to a doping matter.
"Our legal advice is that, if she proves to have an advantage because of the male hormones, then it will be extremely difficult to strip the medal off her, since she has not cheated," Davies wrote to the AP. "She was naturally made that way, and she was entered in Berlin by her team and accepted by the IAAF. But let's wait and see once we have the final decision."
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The South African Press Association reported that the country's president of athletics hadn't been informed of any reports by the IAAF.
"These are insulting words that the media are using, but we are in the dark," SAPA quoted Leonard Chuene as telling The Star newspaper. "We just don't know what affect this information will have on her deep down. This process is not correct."
