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Tests on South Africa's 800m world champion Caster Semenya are likely to show that she has an inter-gender condition, BBC Sport understands. Semenya, 18, was asked to take gender tests following her rapid rise to prominence in 2009 and just hours before she won the title in Berlin. The IAAF has the results but wants them examined before speaking to Semenya. BBC Sport's Gordon Farquhar said: "It's likely that she has some hermaphroditic or inter-gender condition." An Australian newspaper has claimed that Semenya is a hermaphrodite - someone who has some or all of the primary sex characteristics of both men and women. GORDON FARQUHAR'S BLOG How and who should decide in these cases whether the person be considered a woman or a man? The reports have sparked an angry reaction in South Africa. Sports minister Makhenkesi Stofile insisted on Friday: "Caster is a woman, she remains our heroine. We must protect her." South Africa's athletics president Leo...

Caster Semenya will not be stripped of her World Championships 800m gold medal whatever the outcome of her gender test results, BBC Sport understands. The testing process is unlikely to be concluded for two weeks but the IAAF - the governing body of world athletics - says Semenya can keep her medal. The 18-year-old South African was asked to take the test followin g her rapid rise to prominence in 2009. News of it was made public hours before she took gold in Berlin in August. Despite the leak, the teenager left her rivals tra iling to win in a time of one minute, 55.45 seconds. Defending champion Janeth Jepkosgei of Kenya was second, a massive 2.45 seconds adrift, with Britain's Jenny Meadows taking bronze. The International Association of Athletics Federations says it demanded Semenya take a gender test before the World Championships amid fears she should not be able to run as a woman. Following the findings of initial tests, the IAAF then asked the South Africans to withdraw he...

Caster Semenya will not be stripped of her World Championships 800m gold medal whatever the outcome of her gender test results, BBC Sport understands. The testing process is unlikely to be concluded for two weeks but the IAAF - the governing body of world athletics - says Semenya can keep her medal. The 18-year-old South African was asked to take the test following her rapid rise to prominence in 2009. News of it was made public hours before she took gold in Berlin in August. Despite the leak, the teenager left her rivals trailing to win in a time of one minute, 55.45 seconds. Defending champion Janeth Jepkosgei of Kenya was second, a massive 2.45 seconds adrift, with Britain's Jenny Meadows taking bronze. The International Association of Athletics Federations says it demanded Semenya take a gender test before the World Championships amid fears she should not be able to run as a woman. Following the findings of initial tests, the IAAF then asked the South Africans to withdraw her f...

Kenya’s own Janeth Jepkosgei lost the recent 800 metres race at the World Championships in Berlin to Caster Semenya of South Africa. Kenyans seem to be waiting for the answer to the question, “Is Miss Caster Semenya a woman?” If the answer is in the negative then our own Jepkosgei gets the gold medal. I want to urge Kenyans to simply go beyond the gold medal and bring the Semenya controversy close to home. How do we deal with our Semenyas in various fields of excellence? Shall we disown them or glorify them? If Semenya is intersex – has sex organs of both gender – is the IAAF going to make a scientific decision or a social decision? Who has the right to determine her gender if she is intersex and has decided she is a woman? Does this issue not tell us that we are dealing with a complex issue, may be the end of gender as we know it? Three interesting books deal with personal stories of people who are intersex, who went through operations and became either men or women or simply transg...

Google Blogs Alert for: Semenya andson allen: South African athlete Semenya faces gender probe ... By andson allen South African athlete Semenya faces gender probePerthNowThe issue first arose at the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles when Stella Walsh (born Stanislawa Walasiewicz) won gold in the women's 100m sprint. ...and more » ... Coach: Gender Tests Not Explained To Semenya - Sports News Story ... JOHANNESBURG -- A South African track coach has resigned, saying Monday that he and other officials failed a world champion runner by not telling her she was being subjected to tests to determine her sex. Monday, September 7, 2009.

The case of South African athlete Caster Semenya has sparked worldwide interest following reports that she will be tested by sporting officials to determine whether she is male or female.Semenya celebrates her gold, which came just hours after the IAAF called for a gender test on the athlete.The 18-year-old won gold in the 800 meters race Wednesday but she may be forced to return the medal if she fails a gender-verification test imposed by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).According to media reports, the IAAF are testing to see whether Semenya has a rare genetic disorder that means she has female genitalia but male chromosomes. This condition, known as intersex, is commonly referred to as hermaphroditism. (Some support groups say that the term "hermaphroditism" can be inaccurate and offensive, as it implies that someone is both fully male and fully female, which is a physiologic impossibility.)According to the Intersex Society of North America ,...