Semenya trapped in identity crisis

"All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That is his" ­- Oscar Wilde

But what would the great literary figure and wit have made of Caster Semenya, the women's 800metre world champion, who got home to South Africa this week?

The poor girl (she's only 18) has had her very identity put in question. And her athletic achievements have been undermined by her sport's own governing body.

"Caster is a girl. I am not worried about that too much," her uncle said when she landed on Tuesday. "For myself, I know Caster is a girl."

In the good old days of the Soviet era, we were used to seeing some remarkable human specimens competing for eastern bloc countries in athletics championships. Fresh fruit and veg may have been thin on the ground in their homelands, but there was apparently a limitless supply of anabolic steroids.

Semenya's case is different. It seems she may possess unusually high levels of the hormone testosterone. That doesn't make her less of a woman. But it may have boosted her remarkable performance.

On cue, new research arrives from the University of Chicago Booth school of business and the Kellogg school of management at Northwestern University, which suggests that women with higher testosterone levels take bigger risks and pursue riskier careers.

Is this wonder hormone the answer to all our problems? Not so fast. A cold shower of good sense is offered by Daryl O'Connor of Leeds University, who conducted a study into the effects of testosterone on men injected with the hormone.

He told the BBC: "There is a lot of misunderstanding about the effects of testosterone. Our research showed very limited impact. Hormones never act in isolation and never account for behaviour on their own. It is always going to be a complex transaction between the individual and the environment."

The last word on all this gender confusion goes to Alan Bennett: "All women dress like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That is his."

Former president Nelson Mandela on Wednesday met track Semenya and South Africa's two other world athletics medallists, a day after they were given a rapturous welcome on their return home from Berlin.

Wearing Mandela Day T-shirts, Semenya and Mbulaeni Mulaudzi, along with long jump silver medallist Khotso Mokoena met Mandela at his offices in Johannesburg.

"The three had been invited by Mr Mandela so that he could congratulate them on their success in the championships," the Mandela foundation said in a statement.

Semenya, who won the women's 800m in the fastest time of the year, said she could not wait to tell her father about the experience as she had long wished to meet Mandela.

Mokoena described the meeting as "a great experience" while men's 800m winner Mulaudzi said "it was a great honour to come here and greet the great man." South Africans have rallied behind 18-year-old Semenya after the international athletics federation IAAF last week called for her to undergo a gender verification test. President Jacob Zuma, who met the athletes on Tuesday after their arrival home, said at a later media briefing it was "wrong" to suggest Semenya was not a woman.