MKRob Sports

A source close to the investigation into the 800 meters gold medalist has confirmed that tests carried out before the start of the World Championships indicated that Caster Semenya had three times the normal female level of testosterone in her body.

Telegraph Sport can also reveal that the head coach of the South African team is Dr Ekkart Arbeit, the former East German coach who was accused by a female athlete of giving her so many anabolic steroids that she was forced to undergo a sex-change operation and live the rest of her life as a man.

Although it is unclear how closely Arbeit has been working with Semenya, news of his position will raise concerns with the International Association of Athletics Federations.

The analysis on Semenya’s testosterone levels was carried out in South Africa and it is understood this information contributed to the IAAF’s decision to request the South African federation carry out a detailed “gender verification” test on the athlete.

Arbeit, who was named as a key figure in the East German doping machine in a German parliamentary inquiry headed by Professor Werner Franke, has admitted his involvement in the drug programme and has expressed his regret for the part he played in East Germany’s tainted successes of the 1970s and 1980s.

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