8 gender doubt athletes 'banned'

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 told Reuters.

South African Tim Noakes said in an interview 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 an IAAF investigation after she cruised to gold in the women's 800 meters in Berlin last August.