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ANC condemns athlete gender test
Caster Semenya was the only girl in her village's football team
South Africa's ruling party has backed the new 800m world champion, Caster Semenya, condemning those who have raised doubts about her gender. The ANC called on South Africans to rally around "our golden girl".
Her family has also insisted she is a woman, after the runner was told she must have a gender test by world athletics officials in Berlin.
"I know she's a woman — I raised her myself," the 18-year-old's grandmother told South Africa's Times newspaper.
Her mother Dorcus Semenya told the Star newspaper that doubts about her daughter's gender were motivated by "jealousy".
"If you go at my home village and ask any of my neighbours, they would tell you that Mokgadi [Caster Semenya] is a girl," she said.
"They know because they helped raise her. People can say whatever they like but the truth will remain, which is that my child is a girl. I am not concerned about such things."
'Masculine build'
In a statement, the African National Congress condemned the speculation surrounding Ms Semenya, who won gold at the Athletics World Championships in Berlin on Wednesday, leaving her rivals trailing.
If the teasing hurt her, she kept the hurt to herself and didn't show what she was feeling 
Maphuthi Sekgala
Caster Semenya's grandmother
Semenya dismissive of gender row
Testing times for SA champion
"Such comments can only serve to portray women as being weak," the ANC said.
"Caster is not the only woman athlete with a masculine build and the International Association of Athletics Federation should know better," the statement said.
In an interview in The Times, her 80-year-old grandmother Maphuthi Sekgala said Ms Semenya had been teased when younger for her boyish looks.
She was also the only girl in the football team in Fairlie, a village in South Africa's northern Limpopo Province.
"If the teasing hurt her, she kept the hurt to herself and didn't show what she was feeling," she said.
South Africa's athletics federation also says it is "completely sure" that Ms Semenya is a female.
Caster Semenya was the only girl in her village's football teamSouth Africa's ruling party has backed the new 800m world champion, Caster Semenya, condemning those who have raised doubts about her gender. The ANC called on South Africans to rally around "our golden girl".
Her family has also insisted she is a woman, after the runner was told she must have a gender test by world athletics officials in Berlin.
"I know she's a woman — I raised her myself," the 18-year-old's grandmother told South Africa's Times newspaper.
Her mother Dorcus Semenya told the Star newspaper that doubts about her daughter's gender were motivated by "jealousy".
"If you go at my home village and ask any of my neighbours, they would tell you that Mokgadi [Caster Semenya] is a girl," she said.
"They know because they helped raise her. People can say whatever they like but the truth will remain, which is that my child is a girl. I am not concerned about such things."
'Masculine build'
In a statement, the African National Congress condemned the speculation surrounding Ms Semenya, who won gold at the Athletics World Championships in Berlin on Wednesday, leaving her rivals trailing.
If the teasing hurt her, she kept the hurt to herself and didn't show what she was feeling Maphuthi Sekgala
Caster Semenya's grandmother
Semenya dismissive of gender row
Testing times for SA champion
"Such comments can only serve to portray women as being weak," the ANC said.
"Caster is not the only woman athlete with a masculine build and the International Association of Athletics Federation should know better," the statement said.
In an interview in The Times, her 80-year-old grandmother Maphuthi Sekgala said Ms Semenya had been teased when younger for her boyish looks.
She was also the only girl in the football team in Fairlie, a village in South Africa's northern Limpopo Province.
"If the teasing hurt her, she kept the hurt to herself and didn't show what she was feeling," she said.
South Africa's athletics federation also says it is "completely sure" that Ms Semenya is a female.
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