Caster Semenya refused to talk about the gender row that continues to engulf her after winning Olympic gold in the 800 metres.

The 25-year-old South African streaked away from Francine Niyonsaba of Burundi and Kenya's Margaret Wambui, with Britain's Lynsey Sharp finishing sixth in a personal best of one minute 57.69 seconds.

Questions were raised about Semenya's gender before and during her run to the world title in 2009.

She was subsequently forced to take testosterone-suppressing medication in order to comply with the rules of athletics' world governing body, the IAAF, winning silver in London four years ago.

But last year the Court of Arbitration for Sport suspended the IAAF's rules on 'hyperandrogenism', which causes unnaturally high levels of testosterone, for two years, meaning Semenya could come off the medication.

Earlier this year she set a new personal best of 1min 55.33secs, the fastest time in the world since 2008, and she bettered that in Rio by 0.05s.

The IAAF is set to challenge the CAS decision, meaning the issue is unlikely to go away any time soon.

When all three athletes were asked about the controversy and whether they had been made to take medication, Semenya replied: "Tonight is all about performance, we're not here to talk about the IAAF, some speculations, this press conference is all about the 800m we ran today."

Semenya sees sport as a force for good, saying: "I think sports are meant to unite people. I think that's what we need to keep doing. It's just fantastic.

"I think I make a difference. I mean a lot to my people. That was my main focus - just doing it for my people.

"It's all about loving one another, it's not about discriminating against people, it's not about looking at how people look, how they speak, how they run.

"It's not about being more muscular, it's all about sport. I think about performing. You do not think about what your opponent looks like, you just want to do better. The advice would be for everybody to go out and have fun."

Semenya's time was exactly two seconds slower than Jarmila Kratochvilova's 33-year-old world record and, given how much she appeared to have left in the tank, that mark appears within her grasp.

But breaking it would bring more scrutiny, and the South African said: "We were not focused on breaking the world record, we were focused on being the best we can be and producing a good performance.

"The race was a little bit quick. The first 400m, we pushed ourselves. My coach told me to be patient and wait for the right moment.

"We know we are quicker in the last 200m, we just have to utilise it. The field was really good. It was fantastic to race with such great athletes."

Semenya's victory will not please everyone. British 400m runner Nigel Levine tweeted afterwards: "Happy for @LynseySharp for coming 3rd in the women 800m."