LeBron James Visits with Controversial ‘Intersex’ Sprinter Caster Semenya

NBA star LeBron James was track-side in Berlin to visit controversial South African runner Caster Semenya, as she set yet another track record at the IAAF World Challenge.

On Sunday, Semenya set a new record run time of 2:30.70 in the 1000M, and as she stepped off the track, L.A. Laker LeBron James was there for a “thumbs up” photo op, according to IOLNews:

PICS, VIDEO: Caster Semenya meets LeBron James in Berlin! https://t.co/CfhjiyyEuj

— IOL News (@IOL) September 3, 2018

The runner also celebrated the meeting on her Twitter account:

When the greatness meet up 😍❤. You just made my year for showing up to watch me race. This is too much #striveforgreatness pic.twitter.com/h3Gle8R3GT

— Caster Semenya (@caster800m) September 3, 2018

While in Berlin, James’ associate posted a photo of the player’s visit to the Berlin Wall near a mural of Ray Charles and Nelson Mandela.

View this post on Instagram

Short flight to Berlin, @kingjames first stop was the ISTAF Berlin to see @castersemenya800m run 1000m and also to see the native of Berlin, Robert Harrington in his final career event. @nike @uninterrupted #morethananathlete #nikeworldtour2018 #striveforgreatness

A post shared by @ ernieramos on Sep 2, 2018 at 8:09am PDT

Olympic champion Caster Semenya became a controversial figure after many began questioning her sex as she began quickly racking up record after record in women’s competition on the track. Eventually, she was forced to take a “sex confirmation” test in 2009 to prove she was actually a natural-born woman. Officials claimed the results satisfied them. Those results were never officially made public, but some sources said the runner had unnaturally high levels of testosterone and that she was highly “intersex.”

However, the incident brought intense scrutny on the sport’s rules on testosterone. By 2018 the International Association of Athletics Federation announced rules stating that female athletes with hyperandrogenism, or high natural levels of testosterone, would have to take medications to limit the amount of testosterone in their system so that they would not unfairly overpower other female competitors.

The Olympics also changed its rules on testosterone, but for their part to allow transgender women to compete with natural-born females.

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.