Caster ‘has no womb or ovaries’
CITIZEN REPORTER and AFP
JOHANNESBURG - An Australian newspaper, quoting “a source familiar with the inquiry”, has reported that Caster Semenya is neither a man nor a woman, but a hermaphrodite.
The source, closely involved with Semenya’s examination which was ordered by the International Athletics Associations Federation (IAAF), told the Daily Telegraph that Semenya had neither ovaries nor a womb, and a testosterone level three times the norm for a woman.
The Telegraph reported that the IAAF was “ready to disqualify Semenya from future events and would advise her to have immediate surgery because her condition carries grave health risks”.
They had also not ruled out stripping Semenya of her 800m world championship gold medal, it reported.
The tests, conducted during the World Athletics Championships in Berlin last month, where Semenya’s gender became the subject of heated international debate after her victory in the 800m event, yielded evidence that Semenya was a hermaphrodite, someone with male and female sexual characteristics, it said.
The source said the tests revealed that Semenya had internal testes, the male sexual organs which produce testosterone.
Gender tests were conducted during the Berlin championships after speculation over Semenya’s masculine looks and unbelievable performance.
Earlier yesterday the IAAF was keeping its cards close to its chest and said Semenya would officially learn her fate only in November.
“The case will, in principle, come before the executive council which meets on November 20-21. There will be nothing before that,” Pierre Weiss, secretary-general of the IAAF, said.
“It is clear that she is a woman, but maybe not 100%,” Weiss said. “We have to see if she has an advantage from her possibly being between two sexes compared to the others.”
The IAAF, he said, could be bound by medical secrecy laws which could prevent full disclosure should the athlete oppose it.
The gender-testing debate sparked outrage in SA, with the ruling party and its youth and women’s wings calling the tests “sexist and racist”.