Double Olympic champion runner Caster Semenya yesterday won an appeal against track and field’s testosterone rules when the European Court of Human Rights ruled she was discriminated against and there were “serious questions” about the rules’ validity.
However, World Athletics, which enforces the regulations, said that its rules would remain in place, meaning there would not be an immediate return to top-level competition for the South African runner.
Semenya’s case at the rights court was against the government of Switzerland and not World Athletics itself, although the decision was still a major moment in throwing doubt on the future of the rules.
Photo: AFP
Semenya was legally identified as female at birth and has identified as female her entire life, but regulations introduced by track and field’s governing body in 2019 forced her to artificially suppress her natural testosterone to be allowed to compete in women’s competitions.
World Athletics says she has one of a number of conditions known as differences in sex development (DSD), which results in a natural testosterone level in the typical male range.
Semenya had previously lost an appeal at sport’s highest court in 2019 and a second challenge against the rules at the Swiss Federal Supreme Court in 2020. That second rejection of her appeal was the reason the Swiss government was the respondent in the European Court of Human Rights case.
The European rights court ruled in Semenya’s favor by a 4-3 majority of judges on the complaint of discrimination, and said that she was denied an “effective remedy” against that discrimination through the two previous cases she lost at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and the Swiss supreme court.
The court said that it “found in particular that the applicant had not been afforded sufficient institutional and procedural safeguards in Switzerland to allow her to have her complaints examined effectively.”
Yesterday’s ruling was in many ways a criticism of the 2019 decision by CAS. The sports court kept in place the rules that require Semenya and others with DSD to take birth control pills, have hormone-blocking injections or undergo surgery to be allowed to run at top competitions such as the Olympics and world championships.
At the time, Semenya said the rules were discriminatory, and contraceptive pills made her feel “constantly sick.”
The rules were initially enforced in certain events, but were expanded and made stricter by World Athletics this year. Athletes such as Semenya were forced to lower their testosterone further if they wanted to run in any race.
The decision by the Switzerland-based CAS that rejected Semenya’s first appeal had not properly considered important factors such as the side effects of the hormone treatment, the difficulties for athletes to remain in compliance of the rules, and the lack of evidence that their high natural testosterone actually gave them an advantage, the European rights court said.
An unfair advantage is the core reason World Athletics introduced the rules in the first place.
The European rights court also found Semenya’s second legal appeal against the rules at the Swiss supreme court should have led to “a thorough institutional and procedural review” of the rules, but that did not happen when that court ruled against Semenya.
It ordered the government of Switzerland to pay Semenya 60,000 euros (US$66,008) for costs and expenses.
The decision could force CAS and ultimately World Athletics to re-examine the regulations.
Additional reporting by AFP and Reuters
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Matvei Michkov did not score on Monday, but the Philadelphia rookie had a hand in both goals as hosts the Flyers earned a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators. Ryan Poehling and Jamie Drysdale got the goals for the Flyers (31-36-9, 71 points), who won their third straight. Michkov and Travis Konecny assisted on both. Ivan Fedotov stopped 28 shots to earn his first win since March 1, ending a personal six-game losing streak. Zachary L’Heureux got the lone goal for Nashville. Michael McCarron and Brady Skjei got the assists for the Predators (27-39-8, 62 points), who have just four goals in their