LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Caster Semenya, the South African double Olympic 800 metres champion, lost her appeal against World Athletics rules that women with high natural testosterone levels must take drugs to reduce them to compete in middle-distance races.
Switzerland’s top court on Tuesday upheld a 2019 ruling by sport’s highest court, the Court of Arbitration, that the global governing body’s rules were necessary for fair female competition.
WHY DID SEMENYA GO TO COURT?
Semenya both wowed and raised eyebrows when she became 800 metres world champion at the age of 18 in 2009, having recorded dramatic improvements in her personal bests.
The South African athlete has a medical 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.
Athletics’ governing body has repeatedly changed its rules over her eligibility to run, in a case that has tested how sports authorities treat athletes whose bodies fall outside standard ranges.
Semenya now refuses to answer questions about her sex.
WHAT ARE WORLD ATHLETICS’ RULES?
World Athletics introduced rules in 2018 for middle distance athletes with differences in sex development (DSDs) who are legally female and have testes, XY chromosomes – typically found in men – and male levels of testosterone.
DSD athletes were told to lower their testosterone levels to those of “a healthy woman with ovaries” by taking the contraceptive pill, having a monthly injection or undergoing surgery to remove their testes.
World Athletics denied that it was targeting Semenya, who immediately challenged the rules at the Court of Arbitration.
When she lost her case in 2019, she accused the governing body of discrimination and using her as a “human guinea pig”, stating that contraceptive pills made her feel “constantly sick” and that their long-term side effects were unknown.
WHAT HAPPENED WHEN SEMENYA TOOK THE CONTRACEPTIVE PILL?
Semenya took medication after the first ruling in 2011 by World Athletics – then the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) – that all female athletes with hyperandrogenism had to lower their testosterone levels.
Her performances slowed, although her 2012 Olympic silver medal was upgraded to a gold after Russian athlete Mariya Savinova was stripped of the win for doping.
The restrictions were lifted in 2015 after a legal challenge by Indian 100 metre sprinter Dutee Chand.
Semenya returned to domination in the 800 metre category, winning at the 2016 Olympics and 2017 World Championships.
