Trust Me, Caster Semenya Is a Woman: Grandma

Caster Semenya’s grandmother thinks it’s ridiculous that people are accusing the new women’s 800-meter champion of being a man. “I know she’s a woman—I raised her myself,” she tells the Times of London. Maphuthi Sekgala says Caster has long been teased for her boyish appearance, but adds "what can I do when they call her a man, when she’s really not a man? It is God who made her look that way."

The South African newcomer blew away the competition last night in Berlin, leaving competitors grumbling. “For me, she is not a woman,” said one Italian runner. Doctors examined Semenya in both South Africa and Berlin, and her medals will be taken away if it is determined that she's not female, the IAAF general secretary says. But her family isn’t worried. “She is my little girl,” her father said. “She is a woman, and I can repeat that a million times.” (More Caster Semenya stories.)