BERLIN — The South African teenager caught up in the gender-test flap bowed her head Thursday to receive the gold medal for winning the 800 meters at the world championships, while officials and family came to her defense.
Caster Semenya won by more than two seconds Wednesday in the face of revelations that the world track body asked her to undergo gender testing.
Asked while walking into the medal ceremony how she was feeling, Semenya smiled and said, “Good, man.” Dressed in a yellow and green track suit, Semenya waved to the crowd as she ascended the podium to receive her gold medal. She stood with her hands behind her back and mouthed the words to the South African national anthem.
Her dramatic improvement, muscular build and deep voice sparked speculation about her gender. Her father, grandmother and cousin dismissed speculation she is not a woman.
“She is my little girl. . . . I raised her and I have never doubted her gender,” said her father, Jacob. “She is a woman, and I can repeat that a million times.”
About three weeks ago, the IAAF asked the South African athletics federation to conduct the gender test after Semenya burst onto the scene by posting a world-leading time of 1 minute, 56.72 seconds at the African junior championships. On Wednesday, she finished in 1:55.45.
South African athletics federation president Leonard Chuene defended the teenager and insisted Semenya is facing intense scrutiny because she is African.
“It would not be like that if it were some young girl from Europe,” Chuene said. “If it was a white child, she would be sitting somewhere with a psychologist, but this is an African child.”
IAAF general secretary Pierre Weiss said the testing was ordered because of “ambiguity, not because we believe she is cheating.” If the tests show that Semenya is not a woman, she would be stripped of her gold medal, Weiss said.
The gender test, which takes weeks to complete, requires a physical medical evaluation and includes reports from a gynecologist, endocrinologist, psychologist, an internal medicine specialist and an expert on gender.
