Leonard Chuene (File)

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Johannesburg - South Africa's Olympic governing body suspended Athletics South Africa (ASA) on Friday in a spreading fallout over Caster Semenya's gender test.

The South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) said in a statement it was suspending ASA with immediate effect after ASA's attorneys sent a letter saying a committee decision a day earlier to suspend ASA's president Leonard Chuene and board was "unreasonable, procedurally and substantively unfair."

The Olympic committee said the letter indicated ASA "will not respect (its) directives and/or resolutions."

The committee added ASA's officials "engaged in acts of misconduct and misdemeanors" in regard to Semenya "and brought SASCOC into disrepute."

It had started a disciplinary investigation into ASA's handling of the Semenya case, and was considering action against the IAAF for its "disregard" of Semenya's right to privacy.

Semenya won the 800 metres at the IAAF World Athletics Championships at Berlin in August after the IAAF said it had ordered gender tests. Chuene later said he lied about his knowledge of the tests to protect Semenya.