By Kashiefa Ajam, Candice Bailey, Sameer Naik and Thabiso Thakali
Caster Semenya has gone into hiding. Scared, sad and devastated at leaked reports that she is a hermaphrodite - with the outward organs of a woman, but undeveloped internal testes instead of ovaries and a womb - there are serious concerns for her mental and emotional state.
Some fear she might take her own life.
On Friday, the chairman of Parliament's portfolio committee on sport and recreation, Butana Komphela, told the Saturday Star that the elite athlete was being closely watched so that no harm came to her.
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"She is like a raped person. She is afraid of herself and does not want anyone near her. She has been placed on an altar for all the world to see. If she commits suicide, it will be on all our heads."
Komphela said the teenager's emotional well-being was their top priority, and everyone around her was there to support her.
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"I spoke to her today. She says she is okay. But I can hear that she is disguising a lot of agony.
"She is traumatised by all of this. The best we can do is protect her and look out for her during this trying time," Komphela said.
An Australian newspaper broke the sensational global story this week of how International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) tests showed that Semenya, who won the 800m gold medal at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin last month, is a hermaphrodite, or intersexed.
The journalist who broke the story, Mike Hurst, told the Saturday Star he had made reliable contacts at the IAAF as he had been an athletics coach for 21 years.
"I am well connected and the information was leaked to me. It wasn't easy for me to write the story, but the information fell into my lap and I had to."
Later he said he felt vindicated even though the IAAF had not commented on his article.
"They haven't denied my story, and I think that's crucial," Hurst added.
Athletics SA's former national athletics coach, Wilfred Daniels, who quit amid the gender saga, said he had spoken to Caster two days ago.
"Her mental state at this time cannot be good at all. Media reports on Caster over the past few weeks have been absolutely appalling, and it has really affected her."
But despite the Polokwane teenager's trauma of recent weeks, Athletics SA (ASA) seems determined to make money out of her.
Three weeks ago, ASA boss Leonard Chuene vowed to protect Semenya. On Friday, he defended the association's decision to sell her story exclusively to YOU magazine for an undisclosed sum - subjecting her to more ridicule.
The interview and makeover featured Semenya in dresses, hair extensions, high heels and make-up.
On Friday, Chuene told the Saturday Star that they would soon start accepting bids for a management team for her.
He said the ASA was protecting her as a brand.
