That's what many are asking about 18-year-old South African runner, Caster Semenya, who romped to a commanding victory in the 800 meter race at the world championships on Wednesday.

The issue first came to the attention of the International Association of Athletics Federations (I.A.F.F.) in late July when Semenya cut more than seven seconds off her best time of 2008 in the 800 meters.

A steroids investigation found nothing. That's when an unnamed person within the I.A.A.F. community urged a further look into sex issues. In order for such an investigation to occur, there must be a challenge by another athlete or team or suspicion raised during the process of specimen collection during doping control.

Medical experts say assigning sex is hardly as easy as sizing someone up visually. In fact, even rigorous exams can result in ambiguous finds. That's why the testing being done on Semenya is so extensive and may take weeks to complete.

Semenya will have a physical medical evaluation and will be screened by a gynecologist, an endocrinologist, a psychologist, an internal medicine specialist and an expert on gender.

History of sex testing

Interestingly, this is not the first time such an issue has arisen in sports.

• In the 1960s, Soviet-bloc countries were suspected of entering men in women's events. Tests revealed that several athletes were born with genetic defects that made them appear to be men.
• In 1967, a Polish sprinter was barred from the sport because she failed the chromosomal test.
• In the 1980s, a Spanish hurdler was disqualified because the test reealed that she was born with a Y chromosome. She was later reinstated.

A seemingly endless list of disorders can attribute to sexual identity confusion, and the only surefire way to detest these is todo genetic testing.

All that Semenya can do is await the test results. In the meantime, her father is lashing out at the furor, saying, "I raised her and I have never doubted her gender."

"She has not taken any substance to enhance her artificially," said Leonard Chuene, president of the South African athletics federation. "Her crime is to be born like that. It is a God-given thing."

What do you think? Does the International Association of Athletics Federations have the right to conduct gender-testing for some athletes?