Report: Semenya has male, female sex organs
Associated Press
Updated: September 10, 2009, 7:42 PM EDT
SYDNEY (AP) - The IAAF declined to confirm a Sydney Morning Herald report that world 800-meter champion Caster Semenya has male and female sex organs.
Semenya's reported condition could have grave medical implications. (Franck Fife / Getty Images)
IAAF spokesman Nick Davies says the group has received the results of Semenya's gender tests, but he would not discuss the findings.
"I simply haven't seen the results," Davies wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press. "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."
The Australian newspaper reported in its Friday edition that medical reports on the 18-year-old Semenya indicate she has no ovaries, but rather has internal male testes, which are producing large amounts of testosterone.
Davies said the report should be treated with caution.
After dominating her race at the world championships in Berlin last month, Semenya was given blood and chromosome tests, as well as a gynecological examination.
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."
The South African Press Association reported Athletics South Africa president Leonard Chuene had not 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 Chuene as telling The Star newspaper. "We just don't know what effect this information will have on her deep down. This process is not correct."
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