London - The coach of Caster Semenya insists his athlete is unfazed by the negative comments from some of her 800m rivals following revelations of a growing backlash against the South African teenager's return to action.

According to the Telegraph's Simon Hart, Semenya, who was sidelined for 11 months during an investigation into her gender, triumphed in a sub-two-minute time in Berlin on Sunday, though her performance drew a frosty response from some of her opponents.

Britain's Jemma Simpson said the human rights of other athletes were being ignored while Canadian Diane Cummins said they were "literally running against a man".

Semenya claimed a comfortable victory at the Istaf meeting in Berlin on Sunday, winning in a time of 1:59.90, improving her season's best by 2.51 seconds.

Questions were raised about her ability after winning two low key races in Finland last month, with wide speculation that she had undergone medical treatment after the near year-long probe had kept her off the track.

And while the 19-year-old was more than four seconds off the 1:55.45 South African record she set in winning the world title at the same Olympic Stadium a year ago, Semenya proved she was still capable of challenging the best in the world.

But Michael Seme, who coached Semenya to the world title a year ago, said: "It's up to them to say and do what they want to. For us we don't say anything. As long as the organisers of these meetings invite us, there is no problem.

"People are people and they will say things, but good luck to them. We have no problem. If these athletes don't want to come and run, it's up to them."

Asked whether Semenya was affected by their remarks, he said: "No, no, no. We don't even care about the past now. We're just looking forward to new things and shouldn't be talking about the old ones. That is now over and gone."