Carl Lewis accuses South Africa over Caster Semenya

Former Olympic gold medallist sprinter Carl Lewis has blasted the South African athletics authorities for failing to give their star athlete Caster Semenya - the 800m women's world champion who has apparently tested positive as a hermaphrodite - adequate protection.

The South African teenager went into hiding at the weekend after the Sydney Morning Herald reported that tests by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) showed that the 18-year-old possessed both male and female sexual characteristics.

Lewis said: "Here is an 18-year-old young woman, because that's what she feels she is, let down every step along the way... the South African federation should have dealt with it and I think the federation let her down."

"It is your fault," he accused to Athletics South Africa during a visit to Tel Aviv. "She is your athlete in your country and you didn't deal with this before. To put it out in front of the world like that, I am very disappointed in them because I feel that it is unfair to her. Now, for the rest of her life she'll be marked as 'the one'."

Meanwhile Semenya's spokeswoman, Phiwe Mlangeni-Tsholetsane, said the runner was struggling to come to terms with being humiliated on a global scale. "Caster does not shy away from what is being said about her, but she finds the negative and intrusive parts very upsetting. She is completely shattered by all that has been said about her.

"She is extremely fragile at the moment. The claims about her body over the past week have had a very damaging effect. She is only just an adult - she's very young to have to cope with something like this." ·