South Africa's Caster Semenya

JOHANNESBURG (AP):South African sports officials met Saturday to decide how best to help a world champion runner whose sex has been questioned - and how to respond to the circus created by alleged leaks from the international track and field body.

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), which ordered sex tests on women's world 800-metre champion Caster Semenya, has refused to confirm or deny Australian media reports that the tests show Semenya has both male and female characteristics. The international body says it is reviewing the results and will issue a final decision in November on whether Semenya will be allowed to continue to compete in women's events.

Semenya won the 800 in Berlin on August 19 by 2.45 seconds in a world-record 1:55.45. Her dramatic improvement in times, muscular build and deep voice had sparked the speculation about her sex, and the IAAF announced the day of the 800m finals that tests had been ordered.

semenya exploited

On Friday, South African Sports Minister Makhenkesi Stofile called a news conference to express his horror at the question of the 18-year-old's sex being debated publicly, and Zuma told reporters the media had exploited Semenya.

In Ga-Masehlong, the village where Semenya was born, and the neighbouring village of Fairlie where she went to high school, there was anger and confusion. Villagers wondered aloud whether what they had heard on TV could be true, and about the emotional toll it could take on a teenager to see headlines declaring she had both male and female sex organs.

"Caster is a woman. I don't like having to hear people from outside saying otherwise. Here in our village it doesn't sit well with us," said 18-year-old Mapula Phano, who went to high school with Semenya. "The stuff they have been saying about her could destroy her confidence."