IAAF Won't Confirm or Deny Semenya 'Hermaphrodite' Reports
South Africans are outraged over how their star runner is being treated.
NAIROBI, Kenya Sept. 11, 2009— -- The results of the gender tests run on South African runner Caster Semenya are in, but the International Association of Athletics Federation refused today to confirm or deny reports that the 18-year-old medal winner belongs to a gender category known as intersex -- in other words, that she may possess both male and female biological features.
Speculation over the results have given rise to media reports using the term "hermaphrodite" -- a label that is falling out of use within the medical community due to its offensive and often inaccurate nature.
The IAAF said in a statement that it won't release the results of its gender tests on Semenya until November.
"We can officially confirm that gender verification test results will be examined by a group of medical experts," the organization said. "No decision on the case will be communicated until the IAAF has had the opportunity to complete this examination."
The controversy over Semenya heated up after the British newspaper the Sun and Australia's Sydney Morning Herald reported that they had received leaks of the test results showing that the runner, who won the 800-meter women's race at the IAAF world championship in Berlin last month, has both male and female sex organs.
The IAAF did not directly respond to the news reports' claims but said they "should not be considered as official statements" by the organization.
South African Sports Minister Makhenkesi Stofile held a press conference today to express his horror at the handling of the whole affair. He insisted Semenya is female and that lack of a womb should not disqualify her from women's competition.
"We think her human rights have been violated and her privacy invaded," Stofile said. "I don't know why she is being subjected to this."
Stofile said that with the world being told that Semenya is intersex -- and specifically that she is a hermaphrodite -- another youngster might be driven to commit suicide, adding: "It can be as bad as that."
Stofile told the news conference he has no doubts about Semenya's gender. "She's a woman, she remains our heroine. We must protect her," he said.
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