IAAF Denies It OK'd Gold Medal for Semenya

Gender confusion has followed Semenya's meteoric success

(NEWSER) - The International Association of Athletics Federations has asked South African track star Caster Semenya to undergo gender testing, the BBC reports. The 18-year-old Semenya won the 800-meter final today at the World Championships in Berlin, just weeks after becoming African junior champion by smashing the South African record. More»

(NEWSER) - Pre-race World Championship blood tests on super South African runner Caster Semenya revealed testosterone levels three times typical female rates, a source tells the Telegraph. The results of the tests, carried out in South Africa, contributed to a decision by sports officials to call for "gender verification" tests on the 18-year-old gold medalist. It was also revealed that the head coach of Semenya's team is controversial Dr. Ekkart Arbeit. More»

Allow 'masculine' females if they get treatment, says group

(NEWSER) - An Olympics panel has recommended that female athletes with masculinizing gender disorders should be allowed to compete if they get medical treatment. “The entire concept is that these individuals should be allowed to compete," a participant in the Miami Beach meeting told the New York Times . Some female athletes criticized the plan for allowing grossly unfair competition from athletes with marked male characteristics. Even with treatment, such females reap the benefits of a lifetime of high levels of testosterone, say medical experts. More»

Gender a more fluid concept than sports are prepared to handle

(NEWSER) - South Africa has rallied around Caster Semenya, but the IAAF still has no idea what to do with her—or the question of gender as a whole. Semenya’s case is particularly personal for South Africans. The country has an unusually high number of intersexed individuals, and apartheid left behind dark memories of people being reclassified against their will, Ariel Levy reports in a lengthy profile on Semenya for the New Yorker. More»

Sports minister steps up defense of racing champ

(NEWSER) - South Africa’s sports minister threatened “the third world war” if Caster Semenya is barred from competing in women’s sporting events because of the results of a sex test, the BBC reports. Such a decision “would be totally unfair and totally unjust,” said the official. “We would go to the highest levels in contesting such a decision.” More»