South Africa’s double Olympic 800m champion Caster Semenya cannot compete until she accepts to be treated with hormone-suppressing drugs, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court confirmed on Tuesday.
The court dismissed the appeals submitted by Semenya and her athletics federation against the decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on eligibility regulations for differences of sexual development (DSD) athletes.
“The Court of Arbitration for Sport had the right to uphold the conditions of participation issued for female athletes with the genetic variant 46 XY DSD in order to guarantee fair competition for certain running disciplines in female athletics,” the Swiss court said.
Photo: Reuters
World Athletics banned Semenya and other DSD athletes from races between 400m and a mile unless they take drugs that would reduce their testosterone levels.
Semenya is classified as a woman, was raised as a woman and races as a woman, but for World Athletics, women like Semenya, with certain masculine attributes due to DSD, are classified, biologically, as men.
It is a position hotly contested by South African officials.
In the build-up to the 2009 world championships in Berlin, where an 18-year-old Semenya went on to win gold in the 800m, the South African had to undergo gender verification testing to confirm her eligibility to compete in the women’s category.
She was subsequently put on medication to reduce her testosterone levels, spending six months sidelined by World Athletics.
Semenya, born with the 46 XY chromosome rather than the XX chromosome most females have, described the experience as that of being treated like a “human guinea pig” and vowed to never again allow World Athletics (then known as the IAAF) to force her to take medication to compete.
After Tuesday’s ruling, Semenya again refused to comply, even though it might mean missing out on the Tokyo Olympics.
“I am very disappointed by this ruling, but refuse to let World Athletics drug me or stop me from being who I am,” she said.
“Excluding female athletes or endangering our health solely because of our natural abilities puts World Athletics on the wrong side of history,” Semenya added. “I will continue to fight for the human rights of female athletes, both on the track and off the track, until we can all run free the way we were born. I know what is right and will do all I can to protect basic human rights, for young girls everywhere.”
However, World Athletics welcomed the Swiss court’s decision.
“World Athletics remains committed to applying the regulations carefully and sensitively to ensure that 46XY DSD athletes who wish to compete in the female category are able to do so safely and fairly.”
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