Berlin - Gideon Sam, president of the SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) said he was concerned about the rumour around Caster Semenya's gender and felt compelled to say something.

He condemned "media speculation" on the day she is to run in the final of her first major world event - the 800m event at the World Athletics Championships

"If the IAAF feel they need to give her a gender test, then they must also release the results to allow her to continue her development and put any malicious comment to bed.

"Caster has unbelievable talent and [is] an athlete we earmarked for big things..."

The committee believed she had the potential to win a gold medal at the 2012 Olympics in London.

“We have every faith in Athletics South Africa and the team they selected to attend the World Championships in Berlin.

"We are proud of the fact that 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."

Sam said the committee would stand by Semenya every step of the way.

Earlier on, Athletics SA (ASA) denied media reports that Semenya was in danger of not competing in the evening final of the women's 800m.

According to an Australian website, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) had "conducted physical tests and genital screening to try to determine the legitimacy of Semenya's sex".

As far as ASA was aware, the youngster was still eligible to compete in the 9.35pm final where they hoped she would pick up the nation's first World Championship medal in six years.

A meeting between officials would determine whether she would compete in the final in Germany where she lines up as one of the favourites for the gold medal, the report added.

But a member of the ASA delegation said they did not know what tests had been done on the 18-year-old - although tests were done - and the results would not be made available to them for at least another few weeks.

"There are no rules to stop her from running," said the unnamed source.

"That's all nonsense and she will run because this matter will be closed for another few weeks or even months."

Semenya's gender has been questioned since the teenager burst onto the scene earlier this season when she broke Zola Budd's South African junior mark in the two-lap event.

And after she improved to a world-leading 1:56,72 to win the African junior title in Mauritius three weeks ago, rumours continued to spread.

A muscular physique for a girl her age, facial hair and a deep-toned voice have all raised suspicions, but ASA previously told Sapa it had no reason to suspect Semenya was not entirely female nor that she had been born with both male and female chromosomes.

"It's the biggest day of her life and we wish her well," said Sam.