Dr Simon Dlamini, the chairman of the ASA finance committee, made the allegation after Harold Adams, South Africa's team doctor, claimed that Leonard Chuene had deliberately politicised the row over the world 800 metres champion and tried to sow seeds of confusion to deflect any of the blame away from him.

 

A leaked confidential report from Adams claims that Chuene, the President of ASA, consulted top-level politicians before deciding, against Adams's advice, to let Semenya run in the World Championship in Berlin in August even though he knew already there were doubts over her gender.

 

In the report published by the Mail and Guardian Adams asked: "Did Chuene consult with the high-powered politicians' to merely get an endorsement and political backing for his pre-conceived plan of getting a medal at all costs?"

 

He alleged Chuene told a medical team of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) that "withdrawing Semenya was not acceptable to top-level South African politicians who are also in Government and that if the IAAF insisted on Semenya’s withdrawal they would face the wrath of the South African Government, because it would not hesitate to take the IAAF to the highest court in the land".

 

In Parliament this week Chuene blamed the IAAF and the media for Semenya’s woes, saying he had only acted to protect the athlete.

 

According to the Mail and Guardian, Adams' report indicates that Chuene lied to Parliament by saying that the IAAF had suggested Semenya should fake an injury and withdraw from the race, which he considered "unethical".

 

Dlamini hit backs at Adams' report claiming that it had been racially motivated by jealousy over the fact that before going to Berlin Semenya had broken Budd's South African 26-year-old junior record.

 

He said: "The whole issue is [because] the girl broke the record [of] Zola Budd.

 

"There are people out there who are walking along a racial path; we unify the community and they break it apart."

 

Budd, who is white, earned notoriety in 1984 when, with South Africa banned from competing in the Olympics because of its apartheid regime, she was smuggled to Britain by the Daily Mail, who arranged for her to be given a UK passport so she could compete internationally.

 

Adams' report was sent to the African National Congress, the country's ruling political party, and South Africa's Olympic governing body, the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc).

 

It came to light in the week that IAAF President Lamine Diack, who was due to have visit South Africa to discuss Semenya’s gender test with her and the Government, had cancelled the trip.

 

The report reveals that when Adams recommended that Semenya be withdrawn from the Championships in Berlin it was because early tests revealed that she may be a hermaphrodite.

 

Chuene initially agreed, Adams claimed.

 

Adams said: "The reason for my advice was that the tests might prove too traumatic for Semenya to handle, especially without the necessary support of family and friends around her.

 

"The other reason was that being tested at the World Championships would not give her enough time to consult extensively and perhaps arrive at a decision to refuse the testing, if she felt it would infringe on her privacy and personal rights."

 

Adams alleges that Chuene changed his mind the next day after consulting ASA deputy president Kakata Maponyane and politicians back home.

 

The report reads: "The following day Chuene (pictured with Semenya) informed me that he had changed his mind about Semenya’s withdrawal.

 

"He said if we withdrew Semenya, what explanation would we give the politicians back home?

 

"Chuene then requested me to set up a meeting with the IAAF's medical team.

 

"I asked him why he did not discuss the matter with the President of the IAAF [Diack] and agree with him on how to take the process forward, because this was such a delicate matter.

 

"Chuene said talking to the President of the IAAF would be his last option.

 

"He first wanted to politicise the whole thing and to cause confusion within the IAAF medical team."

 

Chuene has defended his decision to field the 800m champion in Berlin by saying that "no reasons were given to him on why he should withdraw Semenya from the Championships".

 

Adams said: "The question is: why did Chuene suddenly doubt my credibility when I have such credentials behind my name?

 

"Did Chuene consult with the 'high-powered politicians' to merely get an endorsement and political backing for his preconceived plan of getting a medal at all costs?"

 

At Chuene’s request, Adams arranged the meeting with the IAAF’s medical team, where he said Semenya's withdrawal would be unacceptable to top-level politicians and the South African Government.

 

"He told me to keep quiet in that meeting and that he and Maponyane would defend the country’s position ..."

 

On Tuesday Chuene told Parliament’s Sports Committee that the IAAF medical team gave him two options during their meeting: the first, that Semenya should fake an injury and withdraw from the race, which Chuene rejected as "unethical", and the second that "she run and finish and the matter can be addressed after the race.

 

"Chuene was not comfortable with this option."

 

But Adams says that the IAAF team made it clear “that Semenya could compete at the World Championships, on condition that she accepted that she would be subjected to the IAAF's gender verification tests in Berlin and that, if any unfair advantage was detected on the part of her, she would be stripped of any medal she might have won at the Championships; or that Semenya is withdrawn from the world championships.

 

"If [the latter] was to be the option exercised, the IAAF was comfortable with ASA handling the matter of the gender verification tests back in South Africa and a report on the said tests sent to the IAAF."

 

Adams concluded: "I sincerely believe that Chuene’s decision to refuse that Semenya be withdrawn was ... reckless, short-sighted and grossly irresponsible.

 

"Chuene's orgy of lies had absolutely nothing to do with Semenya but all had to do with Chuene's selfish interest to cover his back at the expense of Semenya’s welfare."

 

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected].

 

 

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