Lane gets life ban lifted

Johannesburg - A South African athletics official banned for life in the fallout from the Caster Semenya gender test affair four years ago has won a court case against the national Olympic committee and had the punishment lifted.

Former Athletics South Africa board member Laraine Lane's ban was set aside on Thursday by the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg.

In an open letter last month, Lane said she had been in athletics for more than 30 years before being "summarily suspended and banned" without reason by the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) in November 2009.

She says she had been asked months earlier to counsel a then-teenage Semenya through contentious tests ahead of that year's world championships.

Sascoc said it did not agree with Thursday's ruling and would seek leave to appeal.