Test on Semenya given go-ahead by locals: Report

Johannesburg:

An e-mail exchange published on Friday in a South African newspaper appears to show that local athletics officials had planned to give runner Caster Semenya a gender test before the world championships in Berlin.

South African officials have repeatedly said tests were done on the 800-meter world champion only abroad, not in South Africa.

But in e-mails published on Friday by the weekly Mail & Guardian, Athletics South Africa general manager Molatelo Malehopo apparently gives team doctor Harold Adams permission to "go ahead" with "the necessary tests that the IAAF might need." The e-mail is dated August 5, 10 days before the championships began.

ASA president Leonard Chuene was copied in on an e-mail a day earlier to Malehopo where Adams asks for advice on handling the "confidential matter."

Either, Adams says, a gynecological opinion can be obtained and taken to Germany or "we do nothing and I will handle these issues if they come up in Berlin."

Chuene was not copied in on Malehopo's response.

Neither Chuene, Malehopo nor Adams responded to requests for comment.

Local newspapers have reported that Semenya was tested at the Medforum Mediclinic in Pretoria early last month. The hospital could not confirm or deny that she was there.

The ruling IAAF revealed before the 800 final on August 19 that it had ordered gender tests to be carried out on Semenya as questions had been raised about her muscular physique and stunning improvement in times.

The governing body of athletics has since refused to confirm or deny Australian media reports saying the tests show that Semenya has both male and female sex organs. It has said test results are being studied and a decision on whether she will be allowed to continue in women's events is expected in November.