South Africa warned Friday that any attempt to exclude the country’s champion runner Caster Semenya from international competitions would lead to a ‘third world war’ after Australian newspapers reported Friday she was a hermaphrodite.
Sports Minister Makhenkesi Stofile expressed ‘shock and disgust’ after Australia’s Daily Telegraph (and others), quoting a source closing to the tests carried out by the IAAF world athletics body on Semenya, reported she had internal testes instead of ovaries, had no womb and three times a woman’s normal testosterone levels.
Addressing a press conference in Pretoria, Stofile accused the IAAF of violating Semenya’s human rights for even questioning her gender and said the government had referred the matter to lawyers.
President Jacob Zuma lamented the invasion of Semenya’s privacy by the media, saying her test results were a private matter between doctor and patient.
Stofile accused the IAAF, which said the statements attributed to the body by the news reports were ‘not official statements’ without denying them, of using the media to leak what he called Semenya’s ‘so-called results.
‘It is clear to us Caster’s human rights are not being respected at all…’Neither Caster nor her family deserve this kind of humiliation,’ Stofile said.
‘After humiliating her they come back and say she’s a woman but we (IAAF) don’t know the percentage of a woman!,’ Stofile said, adding: ‘This is as disgusting as it is unethical.’
The government had not yet been informed of the test results but found them irrelevant, he said.
‘She does not have a womb? So what?,’ he questioned.
Melbourne University early development specialist Andrew Sinclair said Semenya’s condition was complex.
‘When we talk about what’s male, what’s female, we often think of simple boxes as a male always having certain levels of testosterone, having a penis and testes and a female having female genitalia and breasts,’ he said. ‘But it’s a bit more complicated than that.
‘There’s a spectrum and the disorders of sex development lie on this spectrum between what we’d consider normal male and normal female,’ he added.
Asked how South Africa would react if, as some reports suggested, the IAAF was planning to bar Semenya from future events, Stofile said unequivocally: ‘I think it will be the third world war,’ saying such a decision would be ‘totally unfair and totally unjust.’
Laying the ground for a legal challenge, Stofile noted sport had been declared a basic human right by the United Nations and that Semenya had a right to exercise that right ‘without harassment.’
The IAAF began the process of testing Semenya’s gender earlier in the season, amid questions about her suddenly improved times over the past year and masculine build.
The news broke just hours before the 800m final at the worlds in Berlin in August 19, which the 18-year-old won.
The IAAF said Friday it has received the test results, but would not comment on the issue until a final ruling by the IAAF Council which meets November 20 and 21 in Monte Carlo.
‘No decision on the case will be communicated until the IAAF has had the opportunity to complete this examination. We do not expect to make a final decision on this case before the next meeting of the IAAF Council which takes place in Monaco on November 20-21,’ the IAAF said in a statement.
IAAF officials refused to answer questions on the issue at a news conference in Thessaloniki, Greece, where the World Athletics Final takes place on the weekend.
Stofile charged that Semenya had been subjected to the tests without her or her family’s consent.
Semenya’s former coach claimed this week that Athletics South Africa began testing Semenya’s gender before ever she went to Berlin – without her knowledge. ASA has vehemently denied the charge.
Stofile laid the blame solely at the IAAF’s feet, saying the federation should have accepted South Africa’s classification of Semenya as a woman.
The minister also accused the IAAF’s leadership of ignoring a government invitation to come to South Africa to discuss the matter – even though the IAAF had suggested the meeting.
South Africa is demanding the IAAF apologize publicly for its handling of the affair on such a visit.
Semenya herself has not commented on the reports of her results, but on Friday pulled out of a race set for Saturday in Pretoria. Her coach said she was ‘not feeling well.’
It was not clear whether she has been informed by the IAAF of her test results. During the week, the IAAF was quoted as complaining that ASA was thwarting its access to the athlete.
So banning someone with 3x the testosterone of a normal woman and has testes from racing women is unjust? How crazy are the people of South Africa? If you read the results of the test and think it should be allowed to race women you are insane. Period. The other part of this that I don’t understand is the world war three comment. We could exterminate your entire country by this afternoon if we chose to. Don’t threaten people because the biggest thing to come out of your continent since AIDS is being DQ’d. If this dude thinks she is such a woman I want to see him bang her. Yeah , I didn’t think so.
This is a land of confusion 
