S. Africa athletics chief keeps job after admitting to lying over sex tests on top runner

SAfrica track chief keeps job after sex-test flap

JOHANNESBURG — South Africa’s athletics chief got a vote of confidence Thursday that means he will keep his job for now even though he admitted to lying about his role in gender tests done on champion runner Caster Semenya.

After meeting for several hours Thursday, the council of Athletics South Africa released a brief statement saying it “unanimously expressed confidence in the current ASA leadership.” The group’s president, Leonard Chuene repeated during the closed-door meeting comments he had previously made in public — that he had lied to protect Semenya — according to a transcript of his speech released by ASA following the closed-door session.

“Tell me what should I have done better,” Chuene said during the meeting.

In a brief interview with The Associated Press after the meeting, Chris Britz, a member of ASA’s decision-making board to which the council reports, said: “Mr. Chuene is the president of Athletics South Africa. I can confirm that.”

For days, politicians, newspaper editorials and other sports bodies have called for Chuene to be fired following his admission at a news conference Saturday that he had lied when he repeatedly denied knowing that gender tests had been done on Semenya in South Africa. The outcome of the tests and a decision from international athletics officials on whether Semenya will be allowed to continue to compete as a woman are still awaited.

Chuene refused to comment on Thursday’s meeting to AP, saying the ASA council had told him only Britz could speak on the matter.

The opposition Democratic Alliance party said Thursday’s ASA statement was “exceptionally disappointing.”

“The need for Chuene to go is a no-brainer — so it is of deep concern that ASA appears to have given him a vote of confidence,” the Democratic Alliance said in a statement. “Chuene lied to the nation. He embarrassed South Africa internationally. And he breached Caster Semenya’s right to dignity. What more does someone need to do to face disciplinary sanctions?”

Track officials could find themselves overruled by the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee, which is conducting its own investigation into the Semenya case. Thursday’s statement from Athletics South Africa said the group would “fully cooperate with any statutory commission of enquiry” on the matter.

ASA members who took part in the meeting Thursday refused to speak to reporters afterward. Three cars leaving the meeting place, a hotel near Johannesburg’s airport, displayed computer-printed signs declaring “100 percent Chuene” and “hands off our president.” That echoed slogans shouted in support of the country’s president, Jacob Zuma, when he was facing corruption charges. The charges against Zuma were dropped before he was elected president earlier this year.

While Zuma’s African National Congress party has criticized the handling of the Semenya case by both Chuene’s ASA and international track and field authorities, its youth wing welcomed Chuene’s retention. The ANC Youth League said in a statement Thursday that Chuene’s contribution to the development of sports should not be overshadowed by his “genuine attempt to protect Caster Semenya.”

Semenya won the 800-meters at the world championships in Berlin in August. The International Association of Athletics Federations said before the final that it had ordered gender tests because questions had been raised about her muscular physique and stunning improvement in times. Such matters are usually kept confidential, and the IAAF has been criticized in South Africa and abroad for going public in Semenya’s case.

In his statement at the meeting, according to the transcript released afterward, Chuene alluded to his decision not to withdraw Semenya from the finals and keep from her advice from the team doctor that questions about her sex had been raised by tests. He said he believed Semenya “had an unquestionable identity as a female” and that he wanted to protect her privacy, allow her to fulfill her dreams of competing, and spare her anguish.

The IAAF has refused to confirm or deny Australian media reports that Semenya has both male and female characteristics, saying it is reviewing test results and will issue a decision in November.