Johannesburg: Eight female athletes with doubts over their gender have been secretly banned by the Olympic and athletics' governing bodies to protect the sport's image, a leading sports scientist has told Reuters.
South African Tim Noakes said that the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had been more concerned about brushing the issue under the carpet than worried about the athletes' competitive physical advantages.
The comments follow the controversy over the gender verification of world champion runner Caster Semenya who is still awaiting the results of a IAAF investigation after she cruised to gold in the women's 800 metres in Berlin last August.
"As many as eight ‘intersex' women may have been expelled from athletics in the past and I gather that they were warned that if they made a fuss, they would be exposed," Noakes told Reuters in an interview.
"So it seems it's not about athletic advantage, it's about keeping the Olympics free of ‘intersex' athletes, free of unwanted complications," he said.
"It sends the message that women must do what men say and if the eight previous athletes had to be sacrificed, so be it, which I find very disturbing."
Noakes, the co-founder of the IOC's Olympic Science Academy and of the Sports Science Institute in Cape Town, was asked for his opinion by South African authorities after doubts were raised about Semenya.
He declined to name the eight women, reveal when the bans were imposed or confirm that they were international athletes.
The IAAF were forwarded Noakes' allegations but declined to comment on Wednesday. The IOC also requested a copy of his comments but had no immediate response.
The national governing body, Athletics South Africa, described his comments as "gossip".
Verification tests
Semenya is currently awaiting the results of gender verification tests before being allowed to compete again but Noakes was unequivocal that, whatever the outcome, she should be allowed to compete. "My view is that Caster Semenya should be allowed to run. You can't exclude ‘intersex' athletes and there is growing consensus, at least in this country, that whatever gender you were assigned at birth, that is your gender," he said.
