A scientific paper published on Monday found that women who produce abnormally high amounts of testosterone have up to a 4.5 percent advantage over their competition on the track, evidence the sport’s governing body will use to potentially sideline Olympic gold medalist Caster Semenya and others with so-called “intersex” conditions.
The International Association of Athletics Federations is to use the new study in its appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which suspended an association rule that enforced a limit on female athletes’ naturally occurring testosterone levels.
The appeal will not affect this year’s world championships, where Semenya is expected to go for her third 800m title.
The study, funded by the association and the World Anti-Doping Agency, and published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, analyzed more than 2,100 androgen samples from athletes participating in the 2011 and 2013 world championships.
It found women with higher testosterone levels received a competitive advantage of 1.8 percent to 4.5 percent over female athletes with lower testosterone levels in 400m and 800m races, hammer throw and pole vault.
“If, as the study shows, in certain events female athletes with higher testosterone levels can have a competitive advantage of between 1.8 to 4.5 percent over female athletes with lower testosterone levels, imagine the magnitude of the advantage for female athletes with testosterone levels in the normal male range,” study coauthor Stephane Bermon said.
In 2011, the association enacted a rule to force athletes with hyperandrogenism to artificially lower their testosterone levels to be eligible to compete.
Dutee Chand of India contested the rule and the court overturned it in time for last year’s Olympics.
The court gave the association two years to produce evidence that hyperandrogenism led to an unfair advantage.
The association is to submit the paper, but said it would have no further comment until the case is concluded.
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