Discrimination proven
Court agrees with Semenya in testosterone dispute
7/11/2023 12:54 p.m
Running Olympic champion Caster Semenya and the World Athletics Federation have been at loggerheads for years. The South African is no longer allowed to compete over certain distances because her testosterone levels exceed set limits. The Human Rights Court supports the 32-year-old.
Two-time Olympic champion Caster Semenya has found victory in her fight against the World Athletics Federation’s testosterone regulations. The runner from South Africa won her appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). The judges in Strasbourg found several human rights violations, the 32-year-old had been discriminated against. Semenya had previously unsuccessfully sued the International Court of Arbitration for Sport CAS and the Swiss Federal Supreme Court.
It is still unclear what effects the judgment will have on the rules in sport. But it could force the CAS to review regulations that require Semenya and other intersex athletes to artificially lower their naturally high testosterone levels in order to compete in the Olympics and World Championships.
The World Athletics Federation will not change its testosterone regulations for the time being, regardless of the verdict. Rather, World Athletics wants to encourage the Swiss government’s decision to refer the case to the Grand Chamber of the ECtHR for “a final decision”. “In the meantime, the DSD regulations approved by the World Athletics Executive Committee in March 2023 remain in effect,” it said in a statement. The international umbrella organization continues to consider the transgender rules drawn up in November 2018 for certain disciplines “to be a necessary, appropriate and proportionate means of protecting fair competition in the women’s category”.
Semenya refused treatment
Semenya had made it public that she had high natural testosterone levels but refused to submit to the new rules. She didn’t want to undergo any treatment to bring her natural hormone levels below a certain threshold to be able to run the 800 meters.
The ECtHR has now found that Semenya was denied an effective remedy in the court proceedings in Switzerland. She credibly explained why she was being discriminated against because of her elevated testosterone levels. Such discrimination based on gender and sexual characteristics requires “very important reasons” to justify it. With so much at stake for Semenya, her case should have been given more consideration, the judges said.
The European Court of Human Rights, based in Strasbourg, France, is part of the Council of Europe and is independent of the EU. The Council of Europe and the Court of Justice work to protect human rights in the 46 member states.