South Africa's sports ministry said in a statement on Thursday that women's 800m world champion Caster Semenya will keep her title after a long run of gender test.

The International Association of Athletics Federations has agreed with South African government and Semenya's lawyers that the 18-year-old runner will keep her gold medal after being found "innocent of any wrong", but a probe into her gender will not be made public.

Storming to victory in August's world championships in Berlin, Semenya underwent gender verification tests this summer in South Africa and Germany and a panel of experts has been studying the results for the IAAF.