International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach has sympathy dual Olympic 800-metres track champion Caster Semenya, but he respects the decision taken by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Under new rules to be introduced by the International Association of Athletics Federations on May 8, female athletes with high natural levels of testosterone wishing to compete in events from 400m to 1500m must medically limit that level to under 5 nmol/L, double the normal female range of below 2 nmol/L.
Semenya, who won her 30th successive race over 800 metres on Friday, ruled out taking medication to lower testosterone levels to comply with the regulations.
Asked if she would take testosterone-limiting medication, Semenya told reporters 'Hell no'.
She was running at the Diamond League meeting in Doha two days after the CAS rejected her appeal to get the IAAF's new regulations thrown out.
Semenya's legal team is considering an appeal.
Bach, who attended the Australian Olympic Committee's AGM in Sydney on Saturday, said the IOC had established a working group comprising ethical and scientific experts and athletes to analyse the CAS decision.
"The IOC respects CAS's decisions as we always do, but I have a lot of sympathy for Caster Semenya ... this issue is extremely complex.
"It has a scientific impact, it has a medical impact, it has an ethical impact.
"It has an impact on fair play in competition, so it is extremely delicate."
Australian sprint great Raelene Boyle, who received an AOC order of merit at the meeting, felt the CAS decision was fair.
"This poor individual (Semenya) has been born with genetic interest on both sides of the street," she said.
"Because of that her levels of testosterone are extremely high and we know that testosterone makes you stronger, faster.
"It isn't actually fair that someone has that advantage when they are competing against women, there has to be some level of control.
"They've created a test where they test a female level of testosterone and they've created a marker where if it goes above that marker it's an unfair competition," Boyle told AAP.
"I think it's a pretty fair way to do it"
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