Caster Semenya hopes ongoing battle for equality in women's sports is on home straight

IOL News

9 hours ago

Caster Semenya is refusing to back down in her ongoing battle against World Athletics.
Image: Armand Hough / Independent Newspapers
South African athletics legend Caster Semenya remains determined to see her marathon battle against World Athletics (WA) — to secure equal rights for female athletes with differences in sexual development (DSD) — over the line.
The former Olympic and world 800m champion is still waiting for a verdict from the highest chamber of the European Court of Human Rights. It has been almost a year since deliberations began.
The challenge initially targeted World Athletics' draconian rules that forced DSD athletes with elevated testosterone levels to take medication in order to be eligible to compete against other women.
Simone Biles of the US has called former US college swimmer Riley Gaines 'sick' for mocking a social media post about a high school softball team with a trans player.
Image: AFP
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Semenya, who has DSD but identifies as a woman, had hoped that a victory would allow her to compete again without limitations. However, as the legal battle has dragged on, the former track star and current athletics coach has shifted her focus to securing the right for all athletes with DSD to compete unhindered.
She had previously won an earlier round at the ECHR, which ruled that she had been a victim of discrimination by the Lausanne-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
'We have appeared in high courts, we have appeared in European courts, where we had to appear in front of 21 judges. We're still waiting for the verdict,' she told Independent Media at the finish line of this year's Comrades Marathon in Durban on Sunday.
'I think it's a battle for human rights now. It's not about competing, it's about putting athletes' rights first. It's about the protection of athletes.'
@Riley_Gaines_ You're truly sick, all of this campaigning because you lost a race. Straight up sore loser. You should be uplifting the trans community and perhaps finding a way to make sports inclusive OR creating a new avenue where trans feel safe in sports. Maybe a transgender… https://t.co/pjpzuZ0AlO — Simone Biles (@Simone_Biles) June 6, 2025
Semenya is critical of WA's safeguarding policy, which is intended to protect everyone involved in the sport from abuse, harassment, and exploitation. She accuses the governing body of not properly following through on the policy's implementation.
'We'll never stop fighting for that, and we are in a place where we are being heard,' she said.
'It's about raising awareness and asking: why regulate women's sport? Why can't women run with their natural bodies — as they are, as they were born?
'That's where it raises the question of whether women in sport are truly free, because they are still limited. They are still being asked if they are enough.'
The issue of transgender athletes competing against women and girls has also made international headlines recently. US gymnastics star Simone Biles called former US college swimmer Riley Gaines 'sick' for mocking a social media post about a high school softball team with a transgender player. Biles' comments drew a strong backlash.
The race isn't over. In fact, it's just getting started 🔥 pic.twitter.com/lEhbOfQ19X — Caster Semenya (@MightyCaster) April 3, 2025
'It will be a great feeling if we win this battle because it's for all women,' Semenya said, underscoring the high stakes in her fight.
'You have to understand that the minute you start discriminating against one, you are destroying women's sport as a whole, because now you want women to see the differences in other women.
'Women are no longer celebrating one another — now they are seeing each other as monsters. They are seeing each other as: 'this one is not woman enough'. But we're forgetting that we're supposed to be celebrating and embracing one another.'