Other Sport
Sam slams Caster gender row
2009-08-20 13:20
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Johannesburg - South Africa's Olympics committee chief on Thursday condemned the row over the gender of the country's new female 800m world champion Caster Semenya.
"We condemn the way she was linked with such media speculation and allegation, especially on a day she ran in the final of her first major world event," said Gideon Sam, president of South Africa's Olympic governing body.
Semenya, 18, won the 800m final in 1minute 55.45 seconds in Berlin on Wednesday, shortly after the International Association of Athletics Federations announced she would have to undergo a gender test.
"What has made the performance so much more remarkable is that she had to deal with the distraction of media allegations around her gender on the day of the race," Sam said, according to the SAPA news agency.
"Caster has unbelievable talent and an athlete we earmarked for big things."
Semenya, who burst onto the athletics scene only a few weeks ago, has long been teased for her boyish looks, but her family has brushed aside the controversy, insisting their daughter is a woman.
"We have every faith in Athletics South Africa and the team they selected to attend the World Championships in Berlin," Sam said.
"We are proud of the fact we send clean teams to global events and we would take strong action against a federation if this didn't prove to be the case."
GALLERY: Caster Semenya
VIDEO: Caster Semenya interviewed