A female runner accused of being a man tonight took gold in the 800m World Athletics Championship.

South African Caster Semenya, 18, had to take a gender test after doubts were raised about her sex.

But despite the furore, she easily took gold in the final in Berlin.

The teenage sensation has sparked controversy over her strikingly muscular physique.

Today officials at the world athletics body, the IAAF, revealed that it ordered her to take a gender test three weeks ago.

IAAF spokesman Nick Davies confirmed the tests were taking place, though he said the results would not be confirmed for several weeks.

Until the results are confirmed, there was nothing to prevent Semenya from competing in tonight's final, he said.

He added: 'At this moment in time we do not have any evidence to stop her running.'

South African athletics chiefs furiously denied the claims and stated Semenya was definitely female.

Molatelo Malehopo, general manager of Athletics South Africa, said: 'She is a female. We are completely sure about that and we wouldn't have entered her into the female competition if we had any doubts.

'We have not been absent-minded, we are very sure of her gender. We are aware of the claims that have been made but our aim at the moment is to prepare Caster for the race this evening.'

Semenya was ordered to take the test after raising suspicion during an incredible performance at a junior championship.

The teenager, from Polokwane in South Africa's Limpopo province, burst onto the running scene at last month's African Junior Championship in Mauritius where she clocked 1:56.72 in the 800 metres.

The time was the best recorded in the world so far this year by more than a second.

THE controversy over gender row champion runner Caster Semenya deepened today — after reports claimed sex swap tests have shown she is a HERMAPHRODITE.

WORLD athletics is in crisis over the gender of Caster Semenya after tests revealed the South African world champion has no womb or ovaries.

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) is ready to disqualify Semenya from future events and advise her to have immediate surgery because her condition carries grave health risks. They have also not ruled out stripping Semenya of her 800m world championships gold medal.

Tests conducted during the world athletics championships in Berlin last month, where Semenya's gender became the subject of heated debate following her victory in the 800m, revealed evidence she is a hermaphrodite, someone with both male and female sexual characteristics.

Semenya, 18, has three times the amount of testosterone that a "normal'' female would have. According to a source closely involved with the Semenya examinations IAAF testing, which included various scans, has revealed she has internal testes - the male sexual organs which produce testosterone.