Why did she not quit? "I am a fighter," Semenya says evenly. "I never give up. And I knew I was going to get better."

SHOOT: This article from the Guardian is illuminating, but the bottom line is this: will the IAAF allow Semenya to continue to compete as she has done; in other words, as a woman. It's likely that they won't, or if they do, the condition will be that she does change who she is, surgically. None of this is her fault, it should be remembered. But fair, in sport, is fair.

GUARDIAN: Has Semenya herself changed during this ordeal? She shakes her head again, her face softening this time. "What is the point of me changing? If I became another person it would be bad. If I acted in a different way with my friends they would not be happy. It's important I stay the same. I can still laugh with my friends."

Seme lowers his head at the mention of Chuene's name. He is not a man who speaks ill of anyone; but even Seme's innate generosity has its limits. "All the athletes, I think," he says, "are glad he got suspended [last Thursday]. Now we must just wait for the IAAF."

clipped from www.guardian.co.uk Grinning gormlessly at her in the rearview mirror, asking Semenya how she feels on her first afternoon back at training since she won gold three months ago in the women's 800m at the world championships in Berlin, I do not even see a speed-bump in the road ahead. We hit the bump hard and Semenya cracks her head against the roof of the Toyota. She winces, but laughs again at my bumbling apology. This fleeting pain is nothing compared to the protracted agony she has endured since Berlin. Confused and hurt, and hemmed in by her rollicking celebrity in South Africa and her notoriety in world sport, Semenya has had to stop running and wait anxiously. That tortuous process will finally end next week. In six days' time, on 20 November, the IAAF is due to announce its ruling on all the medical tests and legal wrangling that has since turned Semenya's world inside out. Her life as an athlete, and a young woman, will be decided as the IAAF reveals whether it plans to ban her from competing again