AK opts to remain mum on Semenya gender row

Athletics Kenya will not raise any complaint regarding gender verification for South African 800m world champion Caster Semenya until after the full report by IAAF is released.

AK secretary-general David Okeyo also confirmed that, unless advised to the contrary, Semenya will be invited to compete in the Africa Senior athletics championship due April next year in Nairobi.

“She is not the first athlete to be subjected to the gender test. But this is an IAAF issue and we have nothing to do with it. All we did in Berlin was to launch an appeal to reinstate Janeth Jepkosgei in the 800m race because she [Semenya] had tripped her when she looked likely to win,” said Okeyo.

Semenya ran a time of one minute, 56.72 seconds in Mauritius in July to smash her previous personal best by more than seven seconds and break Zola Budd’s long-standing South African record. Okeyo said AK was alarmed at the speed Semenya ran in the Africa Junior Championship in Port Louis, Mauritius, to win the gold ahead of Winnie Chebet but did not doubt her gender.

Chromosomal disorder

AK chairman Isaiah Kiplagat, who is also a member of the IAAF Council, however said yesterday that he was restricted by the global body from speaking on the issue.

IAAF spokesperson Nick Davies had earlier confirmed to UK newspaper The Telegraphthat the global body was investigating the possibility that Semenya suffers from a chromosomal disorder. But he said that, while the organisation did not think Semenya had cheated by concealing her true gender, she could have both male and female chromosomes.

“For me, she is not a woman,” the newspaper quoted Elisa Savinova, an Italian athlete who was sixth in the 800m final, as saying.

Results from tests prior to Semenya’s victory showed her testosterone level as three times higher than that of the average female. Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome could explain that, as the condition renders the body resistant to androgens (male sex hormones containing testosterone) while overproducing them in an effort to make them work on the body the way they should.

Raise speculation

News of the test broke just hours before Semenya won in Berlin.

It has since emerged that news of the test only became public knowledge because a fax was sent to the wrong person, and that, following the findings of initial tests, IAAF had asked South Africa to withdraw her from the team. Both her family and the South African athletics chiefs have since leapt to her defence, insisting she is 100 per cent female.

A high level of testosterone does not always equate to a failed drug test, but the news will only raise speculation surrounding the teenager who won gold in Berlin in 1:55.45, a massive 2.45 seconds ahead of defending champion Jepkosgei in second place.