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Caster Semenya reacts after losing landmark legal case over her testosterone levels

Sports

By Waweru Titus | May 01, 2019

Olympic 800m champion Caster Semenya has reacted after losing her court challenge against International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) rules forcing female athletes to regulate their testosterone levels.

Venting her frustration on Twitter, Semenya posted a meme that stated that: "Sometimes it's better to react with no reaction."

Semenya was fighting measures imposed by the IAAF that force ‘hyperandrogenic’ athletes -- or those with "differences of sexual development" (DSD) -- to lower their testosterone levels if they wish to compete as women.

Explaining its verdict, (Court of Arbitration for Sport) CAS said that Semenya’s team had been unable to prove the IAAF’s policy was “invalid” during the five days tribunal in February. And, crucially, it ruled that discrimination in sport is legal provided it is justified.

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As it explained in a statement: “The panel found that the DSD Regulations are discriminatory but 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.”

Specialists have argued that achieving excellence in sport is a combination of training and commitment as well as genetics pointing out that barring people from competition over a single genetic factor has no scientific basis.

Speaking to AFP, Seema Patel, a senior lecturer in law at Nottingham Law School, called the CAS ruling "bitterly disappointing."

"A female who has naturally higher levels of testosterone in her body should not be prohibited from competing with women, just as a female who is naturally taller than the average woman should not be prohibited," Patel said.

*In this file photo taken on February 18, 2019 South African 800 meters Olympic champion Caster Semenya arrives for a landmark hearing at the Court of Arbitration (CAS) in Lausanne. [AFP]*

Two athletes who finished behind her in the 2016 Rio Olympics 800m, Francine Niyonsaba of Burundi and Kenya's Margaret Wambui, have also faced questions about their testosterone levels.