Althletics News

World 800m champion Caster Semenya insisted she will race this season, hours after being told to wait for gender-test results to be revealed.

The 19-year-old has not raced since winning in Berlin, but was reportedly due to run in a meeting at Stellenbosch in South Africa on Tuesday.

However, Athletics South Africa (ASA) said she must wait for governing body the IAAF to reveal the test results.

Semenya said her “fundamental and human rights” were breached since her win.

“Since my victory in the female 800m event at the Berlin World Championships in August last year, I have been subjected to unwarranted and invasive scrutiny of the most intimate and private details of my being,” she stated.

“Some of the occurrences leading up to, and immediately following, the Berlin World Championships have infringed on not only my rights as an athlete but also my fundamental and human rights, including my rights to dignity and privacy.”

The South African, who did not give a date for her planned return to racing, described the gender verification case as “a very simple matter”.

“I am an athlete first and foremost and it is vital for my competitiveness, my well-being and for my preparations for events during the European summer that I measure my performance against other athletes,” said Semenya.

“I have constantly taken advice from an esteemed panel of medical and legal professionals and other parties who are close to me.

“I have been privy to and have evaluated all the relevant information they have placed before me including current IAAF rules and policies.

“This information has also been placed in the hands of the IAAF. I am of the firm view that there is no impediment to me competing in athletics competitions.”

Semenya also said she would continue to assist the IAAF with its case.

“My coach, agent and I will work closely together to identify and prepare for a limited number of athletics meetings over the course of the coming athletics season,” she said.

The gender verification tests were performed after Semenya’s victory at the World Championships in Berlin in August 2009.

Their results were expected to be announced in November 2009 but the IAAF said earlier this month its investigation into Semenya had still not yet been completed.

The teenager has not run competitively since winning the gold but it is believed she wants to return to the track for domestic races.

However, the ASA said: “The IAAF has given the assurance of completing the medical process speedily and has requested that ASA abides by the world body’s decision not to allow Semenya to participate in track-and-field events until the process has run its course.”

In January the IAAF had said Semenya was free to run competitively despite its ongoing investigation into her gender, but that was quickly contradicted by South African Olympic Committee president Gideon Sam who said she would not be eligible until the IAAF had made its ruling.

Semenya stormed to victory in the 800m final in a time of one minute, 55.45 seconds – 2.45 seconds faster than defending champion Janeth Jepkosgei, from Kenya, who finished second with Britain’s Jenny Meadows winning the bronze.

In November, the South African sports ministry said Semenya was entitled to keep her gold.

Kenya dominated the World Cross Country Championships in Poland, winning both senior races and the team events.

Joseph Ebuya completed the 12km course in 33 minutes to win the men’s title, ahead of Eritrea’s Teklemariam Medhin and Uganda’s Moses Ndiema Kipsiro.

Mo Farah was Britain’s best finisher, 70 seconds off the pace in 21st.

Emily Chebet beat Kenyan team-mate Linet Masai in a sprint finish to win the women’s 8km race in 24:19. Steph Twell led the GB challenge in 23rd.

She led the British team to sixth place with the backing of Faye Fullerton (33rd), Freya Murray (37th) and Stevie Stockton (47th).

Hayley Yelling, who won the 2009 European title in December, finished down in 63rd.

Farah was returning to international action after a bout of illness but still finished well ahead of team-mates Andy Vernon (44th), Mike Skinner (65th) and James Wilkinson (107th) as GB’s men finished 14th.

Nobody could touch the Kenyans, who occupied four of the first six places in the women’s race and five of the top nine in the men’s event to also claim the team titles.

Kenyan athletes also filled the first four places in the junior women’s and junior men’s races.

In the junior women’s team event, the GB line-up of Kate Avery, Emelia Gorecka, Annabel Gummow, Hannah Walker, Beth Potter and Sarah Inglis finished fifth overall. GB’s junior men’s team came ninth.

Replicas of the 2012 Olympic Stadium running track are to be laid at two Team GB national performance centres.

The move, aided by £200,000 from the London Marathon Charitable Trust, is aimed at giving British athletes an edge as the London Games approach.

The tracks will be laid at Lee Valley and Loughborough by April.

“They will be the only training centres in the world with this track, giving our athletes considerable advantage,” said Lee Valley director Dan Pfaff.

“It is super fast and is of particular benefit to structured running events such as sprints, hurdles and all horizontal and vertical jumps.

“Training on the track day in and day out will mean the Olympic Stadium will feel like home in 2012.”

Replicas of the 2012 Olympic Stadium running track are to be laid at two Team GB national performance centres.

The move, aided by £200,000 from the London Marathon Charitable Trust, is aimed at giving British athletes an edge as the London Games approach.

The tracks will be laid at Lee Valley and Loughborough by April.

“They will be the only training centres in the world with this track, giving our athletes considerable advantage,” said Lee Valley director Dan Pfaff.

“It is super fast and is of particular benefit to structured running events such as sprints, hurdles and all horizontal and vertical jumps.

“Training on the track day in and day out will mean the Olympic Stadium will feel like home in 2012.”