There are female athletes who underwent treatment to make them less masculine before the Olympic Games.
Still others are being secretly investigated for displaying overly manly characteristics, as sport’s highest medical officials attempt to quantify and regulate the hormonal difference between male and female athletes.
Caster Semenya, the South African runner who was so fast and muscular that many suspected she was a man, exploded onto the front pages three years ago. She was considered an outlier, a one-time anomaly.

But similar cases are emerging all over the world, and Semenya, who was banned from competition for 11 months while authorities investigated her sex, is back, vying for gold.
South Africa is ground zero of the debate. An estimated 1 per cent of the 50 million people here are born “intersex,” meaning they don’t fit typical definitions of male or female.

For female athletes, this may mean they were born with hyperandrogenism, a disorder in which they have hormone levels similar to those of a man.
Following her investigation, officials at Athletics South Africa were found to have lied about her case, withholding important medical information from her and international authorities. Top executives were fired, sponsors pulled out and meets were cancelled.