That is a civilised way to approach the renewed controversy around Semenya’s performances, culminating in the silver medal that she won in the 800m on Saturday night.

To the uninformed, and even to many who know much about athletics, Semenya often gives the impression of not running at full speed.

 In her heat at the Olympics and in the semi-final she seemed to start slowly and to accelerate just enough to get the business done, no more.

In the final, she left the charge too late and was unable to catch Russia’s world champion, Mariya Savinova.

Tim Layden of Sports Illustrated commented that Semenya was “disengaged”.

Social media networks are abuzz with speculation that she deliberately held back in order to avoid the spotlight that would have fallen on her if she had won gold.

If that was the plan it obviously backfired. Even her supporters are wondering why she did not seem to push hard enough for the duration of the race.

Yet appearances can be deceptive. Some runners can look as though they are coasting when in fact they are giving their all. Semenya herself says she was pushing: “I tried hard to get back but the body wasn’t really on fire today. But I had to fight.”

South African sports scientist Ross Tucker examined in detail the time taken by Semenya and others over the four 200m segments of various semifinals and Saturday’s final. He found that Semenya was more consistent over the entire distance.

Tucker concludes that Semenya was not actually that fast over the final 200m of the race, but the other runners were very slow.

Tucker says it is possible that Semenya does not have the speed to be able to run a fast 56-second first lap.

Describing her style as  very laboured, he says she “lacks a knee lift, and her heel flick is also very limited, so it is possible that she lacks the ability to change pace much, and so I have to put forward the possibility that she may not actually have the capacity to respond to surges”.

Question marks remain around the inconsistency of her performances.

Tucker points out that speculation and accusation  are inevitable because of the secrecy around Semenya.

The world still does not know what the IAAF tests revealed after her victory in the 2009 World Championships, or what steps were taken to allow her to compete again.

Tucker says that once the athletics world knew there was a question, this had to be followed through to its conclusion, meaning that the outcome should have been made known.

That’s fine in theory. Yet common decency suggests such details are best kept confidential.

The IAAF accepts her. She played by the rules and conducted herself at all times with dignity, even  under immense pressure.

For that she deserves gold.