The 31-year-old South African middle-distance runner, who also earned 800m Olympic gold medals at London 2012 and Rio 2016 before being ruled ineligible to carry on racing over that distance due to her naturally elevated testosterone levels, revealed the incident during an interview with HBO's Real Sports.

Shortly after Semenya had announced herself as a global talent by taking the 800m world title in Berlin by a huge margin, the sport's world governing body – then the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) - said she would undergo gender verification tests.

"They thought I had a dick, probably," Semenya told HBO.

"I told them: 'It's fine. I'm a female, I don't care. If you want to see I'm a woman, I will show you my vagina. All right?'"

Gender tests on Semenya reportedly showed the runner had internal testes, the male sexual organs which produce testosterone, and her levels of the hormone were three times that of a "normal" female.

Semenya has a condition known as hyperandrogenism, which is characterised by higher than usual levels of testosterone, a hormone that increases muscle mass and strength and the body's ability to use oxygen.

She took medication after an initial ruling in 2011 by the IAAF - which became World Athletics in June 2019 - that all female athletes with hyperandrogenism had to lower their testosterone levels through medical means.

"It made me sick, made me gain weight, panic attacks, I don't know if I was ever going to have a heart attack," Semenya said.

"It's like stabbing yourself with a knife every day.

“But I had no choice.

"I'm 18, I want to run, I want to make it to Olympics, that's the only option for me."

World Athletics lawyer Jonathan Taylor, speaking during the HBO Real Sports interview, disagreed with medical panels, including the World Medical Association, that condemned the sport's governing body for requiring women with differences in sex development (DSDs) to take drugs to compete.

"You say medically it's not healthy for me, then my question back to you is: 'Why do the world's leading experts say that that is what we would prescribe?'" said Taylor.

Semenya responded: "Jonathan must cut his tongue and throw it away.

“If he wants to understand how that thing has tortured me, he must go and take those medications.

“He will understand."

Semenya is currently banned from competing in distances from 400m to a mile at elite track meets, in accordance with research commissioned by World Athletics. 

She can only race if she agrees to take medication to lower her testosterone again and meet updated regulations - an option she has refused to take.

Semenya has not run an 800m race at a major event since 2019 and failed to qualify to run in the Tokyo 2020 5,000m event.

In 2020, Semenya lost her appeal to the Swiss Federal Tribunal to set aside a 2019 Court of Arbitration ruling that female athletes with high natural testosterone levels must take medication to reduce it.

She had approached the tribunal after the Court of Arbitration for Sport, sport's highest court, ruled that the regulations of World Athletics were necessary for athletes with DSDs in races ranging from 400 metres to a mile to ensure fair competition.

Semenya is now waiting for a hearing date at the European Court of Human Rights following her third appeal launched earlier this year.

Announcing her latest appeal in February, Semenya tweeted: "All we ask is to be able to run free as the strong and fearless women we are!!"