ATHLETICS:THE ATHLETE Caster Semenya has pulled out of her return to competitive sport today, amid growing fears over the psychological impact of rumours about her sex.

The 18-year-old withdrew from a cross-country race in South Africa after it was widely reported that a leaked sex test reveals that she is a hermaphrodite. Her coach, Michael Seme, said she will not run today because she is “not feeling well”.

South Africa condemned the reports in the international media as an invasion of the teenager’s privacy and threatened a “third world war” if Semenya, the women’s 800 metres champion, is now disqualified from athletics.

Public discussion of Semenya’s most intimate physical details intensified after the Sydney Daily Telegraph reported that she had no womb or ovaries, but internal male testes which were producing extraordinary amounts of testosterone.

The South African sports minister, Makhenkesi Stofile, said it would be unjust for the IAAF to exclude Semenya from competing as a woman. “I think it would be the third world war,” he said.

The IAAF declined to confirm or deny the Australian report, but said it should be treated with caution. Its spokesman, Nick Davies, said it had received the results of Semenya’s tests but would not release them until November 20th or 21st. “I simply haven’t seen the results,” he said.

“We have received the results from Germany, but they now need to be examined by a group of experts and we will not be in a position to speak to the athlete about them for at least a few weeks.”

After dominating her race at the world championships in Berlin last month, Semenya underwent blood and chromosome tests, and gynaecological examination.

The IAAF has said Semenya probably would keep her gold medal because the case was not related to a doping matter. But it is less clear whether she would be allowed to compete again if she proves to be both male and female.