"She may be a hermaphrodite, but so what? She is still a girl." Those were the words of South African Sports Minister Makhenkesi Stofile, who last week demanded that the International Association of Athletics Federations apologize for violating runner Caster Semenya's privacy in the face of widespread, but unconfirmed, reports that the results of her gender test had been leaked to the media.
In August, Semenya won the women's 800-meter gold medal at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin. But upon her victory, the 18-year-old South African runner came under scrutiny by competitors, who questioned whether Semenya was female or intersex, with some male and some female sexual characteristics. Soon the IAAF became involved, demanding testing to confirm Semenya's sex.
At a Friday press conference, Stofile hinted at possible legal action against the IAAF.
Seeing South African officials stand up for Semenya and her right to define her own gender is extraordinary because -- when this happened just three years ago -- the results were much different.
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