Updated
Caster Semenya has lost an appeal against rules designed to decrease naturally high testosterone levels in some female runners.
Key points:
- The International Association of Athletics Federation says female runners with high testosterone levels have an unfair advantage
- Caster Semenya, who is South African, lost her appeal in the Court of Arbitration for Sport
- She will now have to medicate herself to suppress her testosterone levels to compete
The Court of Arbitration for Sport’s (CAS) panel of three judges gave a complex verdict and “dismissed both requests for arbitration” from Semenya and the governing body of track and field.
In a landmark judgment, the court said the International Association of Athletics Federation’s (IAAF) proposed rules on athletes with “differences of sex development (DSD)” were discriminatory.
However, the judges ruled 2-1 that “on the basis of the evidence submitted by the parties, such discrimination is a necessary, reasonable and proportionate means of achieving the IAAF’s aim of preserving the integrity of female athletics in the Restricted Events”.
Semenya, a two-time Olympic champion in the 800 metres, will now be forced to medicate to suppress her testosterone levels if she wants to defend her world title in September in Doha, Qatar.
The IAAF went into the case with the scientific argument that female runners with high testosterone levels had an unfair advantage in events from 400 metres to the mile.
Still, the CAS panel “strongly encouraged” the IAAF to note its concerns when it applied the rules — which the judges said might need to be modified in future to remain fair.
“Indeed, it may be that, on implementation and with experience, certain factors may be shown to affect the overall proportionality of the DSD Regulations,” the court said.
The judges wanted the IAAF to apply the rules only up to the 800 metres because the evidence was not clear that women with hyperandrogenism had a competitive advantage in the 1,500-metre.
“The CAS Panel suggested that the IAAF consider deferring the application of the DSD Regulations to these events (1,500 and the mile) until more evidence is available,” the court said.
That could give Semenya a route to compete at the World Championships without taking medication — she was the bronze medallist in the 1,500-metre at the 2017 Worlds in London.
A further appeal is possible to Switzerland’s supreme court in Lausanne.
Federal judges rarely overturn CAS decisions but can intervene if legal process was abused.
In April last year, IAAF president Sebastian Coe said the track’s governing body needed to “ensure a level playing field where success is determined by talent, dedication and hard work rather than other contributing factors”.
“We want athletes to be incentivised to make the huge commitment and sacrifice required to excel in the sport, and to inspire new generations to join the sport and aspire to the same excellence,” he said.
Semenya, a South African who is also a triple world champion over 800m and completed the 800-1,500 metre double at the Commonwealth Games in April 2018, responded to the IAAF’s new rules on Twitter, saying at the time: “I am 97 per cent sure you don’t like me but I’m 100 per cent sure I don’t care.”
AP
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