Caster Semenya make over photos in You Magazine and gender test report

Caster Semenya Makeover: Caster Semanya graces the cover of South Africa’s You Magazine.

Caster Semenya's make over photos in You Magazine may have been an attempt to quiet critics, but has done little good.

• View photos of Caster Semenya's homecoming
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According to a report today in the Telegraph UK, South African Caster Semenya's gender verification test has raised sufficient doubt about whether she is entirely female. However, the IAAF has decided to commission an independent panel of experts, in part, to appease the accusations of racial motivation that the South African sporting authority has lobbed at the IAAF. Results are expected in a week to 10 days. The IAAF has already confirmed that no matter what the official findings may be, Semenya will not be stripped of her gold medal from the recent Berlin World Championships. Semenya won the women's 800 Meters in a world leading time of 1:55.28.

Another article released today in The Science of Sport covers the gender issue in great detail. According to the author, Ross Tucker, there are four possible outcomes of the tests.

1. A conclusive negative finding, which would clear Semenya of all suspicion and allow her to compete without questions. He concludes that the continued delay in the announcement suggests that this option is no longer possible.
2. An inconclusive finding would allow Semenya to continue to compete, under the benefit of a doubt, but would cast a negative cloud over all of her performances, much like the major league baseball records achieved with steroids. Tucker suggests that this is the most likely outcome.
3. A conclusive finding of advantage from either a disorder of sex development or a medical problem. The scenario would mean that Semenya would require treatment in order to compete against women in the future.
4. Positive for doping. The possibility exists that Dr. Eckart Arbeit, who served as Semenya's coach and has been implicated in the East German doping scandals of the eighties, has supplied Semenya with performance enhancing agents.

Tucker is quick to note that we may never know the exact reason, as unlike a case of doping where the results can be made public, medical confidentiality applies in this case. Still, there is the great likelihood that rumors will swirl and some form of the truth may be leaked.

Tucker's article does provide more insight into the allegations that Semenya's testosterone levels were reported to be three times higher than that of a normal female. First he questions which level is used to determine normal for a woman, revealing that there is a wide range of normal values for both men and women. Still, there is an upper level to this range, and women do not naturally have levels that extend beyond this upper level, which apparently, Semenya's levels did.

It is important to note that elevated testosterone levels would suggest a performance advantage and that testosterone level is very important for determining whether a person who has changed sex can compete as a man or as a woman.

There is certainly more to come in this controversy.

To read Ross Tucker's full article.

See more event coverage of the 12th World Track & Field Championships in Berlin.