New 800metres world champion Caster Semenya arrived back in South Africa to a rapturous welcome today but she now faces fresh controversy over reports that samples provided prior to the World Championships in Berlin showed testosterone levels three times higher than those normal for women.
The 20-year-old faces tests on her gender by international athletics body, the IAAF, after a dramatic improvement in times over the last year and will now have more questions to answer, according to reports from the Press Association and the BBC.
Higher-than-normal levels can occur naturally but the 18-year-old will now be subject to detailed scrutiny to decide whether that is the case in this instance.
The new development did not dent the enthusiasm with which Semenya was welcomed after touching down in Johannesburg with her South African team-mates this morning.
Thousands of supporters crammed the airport waving placards, singing, dancing and hoping to catch a glimpse of the teenager.
Leonard Chuene, president of Athletics South Africa, called for the matter over her gender to be laid to rest.
He said: “We have not once, as ASA, doubted her. It’s very simple: She’s a girl.
“We took this child to Poland to the junior championship under the IAAF.
“Why was there no story about it? She was accepted there. No-one said anything there because she did not do anything special.
“She is the same girl. No-one asked why did we take her. She went to Mauritius and ran well, suddenly everyone noticed her. You say we didn’t do much to protect her. What did you want us to do?
“As ASA we didn’t have any of this information (on her gender) that people wanted us to protest about. When you go to dope testing, you go with a woman and she can see you are a woman.
“When you are born, you can see whether you are a boy or girl. You don’t test children in the lab to confirm.”
It is understood the IAAF have been monitoring Semenya for some time following incredible improvements in her performances in the last 12 months culminating in her gold medal victory in Berlin.
PA