Caster Semenya receives support from government and Indian runner

Caster Semenya, the South African athlete who won the 800m gold medal at the World Championships in Berlin last month and has since been at the centre of controversy over the status of her gender, is receiving growing support.

The Times reports today that the South African government, already a key supporter of a runner who they feel has been attacked because she comes from a poor background and is black, is suggesting that it will back Semenya through legal channels as she looks to salvage her reputation.

Leonard Chuene, president of Athletics South Africa, told the newspaper: "She comes from a very poor background, but you do not take people for granted because they do not have the resources to defend themselves."

Chuene went on to say that the 18-year-old, who ran a personal best of 1min 55.45sec in the showpiece final on August 19, "has been taken on full time by the federation and the Government. We will compare notes. We have taken over her life in terms of protecting her and putting professional management around her".

The implicit threat is that the South African government will take action against the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF), which it claims has failed to protect the teenager.

Semenya has also received support from another athlete who has run into similar gender problems. Indian Santhi Soundarajan won the 800m at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, but was stripped of her medal after failing a gender verification test.

"I come from a small village and had no one to fight for me," Soundarajan told Time magazine, echoing the observation of Chuene. "I hope Semenya will come out of this better than I did."

Meanwhile, Chuene perhaps unwittingly allayed IAAF fears that the controversy would be re-ignited at the World Athletics Final in Greece which begins on September 13. Semenya had not qualified for the event as she didn't compete on the athletics circuit during the summer, but could conceivably have been invited as the world champion in her event.

But Chuene said she would not be going: "She is 18 and this is only the beginning. She will not compete again this season because of exams, but she is going to run again." ·