Semenya ‘won’t be stripped of her gold medal’
GENDER-ROW 800m runner Caster Semenya will be allowed to keep her World Championship gold medal, according to South African officials.
World governing body the IAAF have still not decided whether the 18-year-old will be permitted to continue competing as a woman.
But her country’s Department of Sport and Recreation said yesterday that Semenya would not be stripped of the title she won in Berlin in August.
“Because Caster has been found to be innocent of any wrong, she will then retain her gold medal, retain her title of 800m world champion, retain her prize money,” read a statement. The decision had been agreed upon by South Africa’s government, the IAAF and the athlete’s lawyers, the department added.
The IAAF said earlier this week that tests to determine Semenya’s gender had still not been completed.
Semenya burst onto the world scene in July when she smashed her previous best by seven seconds and broke Zola Budd’s long-standing national record.
The African junior champion then stormed to victory in Germany, although the race was hugely overshadowed by a row over her gender.