Caster Semenya: Gender Test For Track Star at World Championships

According to her coach, Michael Seme, there has been speculation about Semenya’s gender for a while now and he feels it’s important that he clears the air to avoid any future controversy.

“We understand that people will ask questions because she looks like a man. It’s a natural reaction and it’s only human to be curious,” said Seme. 

Seme added that when they stopped at a petrol station in Cape Town recently and Semenya entered the female toilets, the petrol attendants prevented her from doing so because they were convinced she was a man.  

“Caster just laughed and asked if they would like her to take off her pants to show them she was a woman,” said Seme.

IAAF spokesman Nick Davies said the "extremely complex, difficult" test has been started but that the results were not expected for weeks. The verification requires a physical medical evaluation, and includes reports from a gynecologist, endocrinologist, psychologist, an internal medicine specialist and an expert on gender. "So we're talking about reports that are very long, very time consuming," Davies said.

"I can't say that if 'X' happens in the future that we will, for example, retroactively strip results. It's legally very complex," Davies said. "If there's a problem and it turns out that there's been a fraud ... that someone has changed sex, then obviously it would be much easier to strip results," Davies added. "However, if it's a natural thing and the athlete has always thought she's a woman or been a woman, it's not exactly cheating."