It has been reported that the results of a controversial gender test on the South African athlete Caster Semenya have been received by international athletics officials but will only be made public after they have been analysed by experts and Semenya has been informed.
A spokesman for the International Association of Athletics Federations was reported to have said that its urgent efforts to contact Semenya, the women's 800 metres world champion, were being thwarted by South African athletics authorities.
Adding to the confusion, Athletics South Africa has denied the claim, insisting that it has not yet heard from the IAAF.
Semenya's victory at last month's World Championships in Berlin was overshadowed by speculation over her masculine appearance, deep voice and radically improved performance. The IAAF's order of a gender test caused fierce protests in South Africa and complaints that it infringed her human rights.
A South African website, Sport24.co.za, reported Nick Davies, a spokesman for the IAAF in Lausanne, Switzerland, as saying: "We can't afford any mistakes, particularly as we already face threats to be taken to the United Nations Human Rights Council and because it has become a political matter in South Africa."
Davies was reported as adding that the IAAF's attempts to inform Semenya were being blocked by ASA: "ASA's actions can have serious consequences for Semenya if we are not able to speak to her soon. In short, it will come down to her refusing to co-operate.
"Had it been a drugs issue, she would have been suspended a long time ago, but this is a unique problem for which the IAAF's rules do not make provision. It is important for us to talk to her about the results of the tests."
Sport24 also reported Davies as saying that the manner in which the ASA was handling the matter could become a huge problem over the next few weeks. Davies was reported to have said that the ASA president, Leonard Chuene, had spread so many untruths about the IAAF's conduct that it would be a major embarrassment for him when the facts are revealed.
"Chuene may have no other option than resigning as president of ASA," Davies was reported to have said.
Cheune said the claims came as a total surprise and that the ASA had not received any calls. "They've been very quiet," he said of the IAAF.
The IAAF could not be reached to confirm their spokesman's reported remarks.
