'Semenya didn't want her gold'

Published Aug 21, 2009

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South African 800m World champion Caster Semenya reportedly came close to boycotting the awards ceremony after feeling devastated by the furore over her gender.

Athletics SA president Leonard Chuene told The Times newspaper: "She said she did not want to go on the podium, but I told her she must. She is not rejoicing. She (didn't) want the medal.

"She told me: 'No one ever said I was not a girl but here (in Berlin) I am not. I am not a boy. Why did you bring me here? You should have left me in my village at home'."

Semenya's family said they were angry about the International Association of Athletics Federations' decision to conduct gender tests on their 18-year-old daughter.

"We won't accept her having to undergo those tests and we agree with her - she should (have) rather rejected the medal. We won't allow our daughter to be disgraced," her father Jacob said.

Her mother Dorcus said: "I feel so proud of my daughter. The talk that they want to examine her, it won't happen while I'm alive.

"She's a woman. I gave birth to her. They must give what my daughter deserves. She won that medal."

Popular tabloid The Sowetan published a copy of Semenya's birth certificate, listing her sex as female, on its front page under the headline "She's a girl" with a picture of a young Semenya towering over a group of school friends.

In an editorial headline "Shush, you silly twerps", the paper hit out at Semenya's detractors, calling it "a clearly contrived controversy". - AFP

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