Latest news with #Caster Semenya
Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Why the Caster Semenya sex eligibility battle confounded sports for 16 years and still isn't over
South Africa's Caster Semenya sits in the European Court of Human Rights before its decision over sex eligibility rules in sports, Thursday, July 10, 2025 in Strasbourg, eastern France. (AP Photo/Antonin Utz) FILE - South Africa's Caster Semenya competes in the women's 800-meter race during the Prefontaine Classic, an IAAF Diamond League athletics meeting, in Stanford, Calif., June 30, 2019. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File) South Africa's Caster Semenya, center, answers reporters with lawyers Gregory Nott, left, and Shona Jolly KC after Semenya won a partial victory at the European Court of Human Rights on in her seven-year legal fight against track and field's sex eligibility rules, Thursday, July 10, 2025 in Strasbourg, eastern France. (AP Photo/Antonin Utz) South Africa's Caster Semenya sits in the European Court of Human Rights before its decision over sex eligibility rules in sports, Thursday, July 10, 2025 in Strasbourg, eastern France. (AP Photo/Antonin Utz) FILE -South Africa's Caster Semenya celebrates after winning the gold medal in the final of the Women's 800m during the World Athletics Championships in Berlin on Aug. 19, 2009. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus, File) FILE -South Africa's Caster Semenya celebrates after winning the gold medal in the final of the Women's 800m during the World Athletics Championships in Berlin on Aug. 19, 2009. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus, File) South Africa's Caster Semenya sits in the European Court of Human Rights before its decision over sex eligibility rules in sports, Thursday, July 10, 2025 in Strasbourg, eastern France. (AP Photo/Antonin Utz) FILE - South Africa's Caster Semenya competes in the women's 800-meter race during the Prefontaine Classic, an IAAF Diamond League athletics meeting, in Stanford, Calif., June 30, 2019. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File) South Africa's Caster Semenya, center, answers reporters with lawyers Gregory Nott, left, and Shona Jolly KC after Semenya won a partial victory at the European Court of Human Rights on in her seven-year legal fight against track and field's sex eligibility rules, Thursday, July 10, 2025 in Strasbourg, eastern France. (AP Photo/Antonin Utz) South Africa's Caster Semenya sits in the European Court of Human Rights before its decision over sex eligibility rules in sports, Thursday, July 10, 2025 in Strasbourg, eastern France. (AP Photo/Antonin Utz) FILE -South Africa's Caster Semenya celebrates after winning the gold medal in the final of the Women's 800m during the World Athletics Championships in Berlin on Aug. 19, 2009. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus, File) CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — One of the most complex current issues in sports can be traced back to a track meet in Germany in 2009, when an unknown 18-year-old from South Africa blew away a field of the best female runners on the planet to win the world title. The teenager was hardly out of breath when she flexed her muscles at the end of it. What quickly became clear is that sports faced an unprecedented dilemma with the arrival of Caster Semenya. Advertisement Now a two-time Olympic and three-time world champion in the 800 meters, the 34-year-old Semenya has been banned from competing in her favored event since 2019 by a set of rules that were crafted by track authorities because of her dominance. They say her natural testosterone level is much higher than the typical female range and should be medically reduced for her to compete fairly against other women. Semenya has refused to artificially alter her hormones and challenged the rules claiming discrimination at the Court of Arbitration for Sport court in Switzerland, then the Swiss Supreme Court and now the European Court of Human Rights. A ruling Thursday by the highest chamber of the European court — Semenya's last legal avenue after losing at the other two — found that she was denied a fair hearing at the Swiss Supreme Court. Advertisement It kept alive Semenya's case and reignited a yearslong battle involving individual rights on one hand and the perception of fairness in sports on the other, with implications across the sporting world. A complex issue Semenya is not transgender and her case has sometimes been inaccurately conflated with that of transgender athletes. She was assigned female at birth, raised as a girl and has always identified as female. After years of secrecy because of medical confidentiality, it was made public in 2018 that she has one of a number of conditions known as differences of sex development, or DSDs. They are sometimes known as intersex conditions. Semenya was born with the typical male XY chromosome pattern and female physical traits. Her condition leads to her having testosterone levels that are higher than the typical female range. Advertisement World Athletics, the track governing body, says that gives her an unfair, male-like advantage when racing against other women because of testosterone's link to muscle mass and cardiovascular performance. It says Semenya and a relatively small number of other DSD athletes who emerged after her must suppress their testosterone to below a specific level to compete in women's competitions. The case has transcended sports and reached Europe's top rights court largely because of its core dispute: Semenya says the sports rules restrict the rights she has always known as a woman in every other facet of life and mean she can't practice her profession. World Athletics has asserted that Semenya is 'biologically male." How the rules work Track and field's regulations depend on the conclusion that higher testosterone gives rise to an athletic advantage, though that has been challenged in just one of the many complicated details of Semenya's case. Advertisement To follow the rules, DSD athletes must suppress their testosterone to below a threshold that World Athletics says will put them in the typical female range. Athletes do that by taking daily contraceptive pills or using hormone-blocking injections and it's checked through regular blood tests. Track first introduced a version of its testosterone regulations in 2011 in response to Semenya and has made them stricter over the years. The current rules require athletes affected to reduce their testosterone for at least two years before competing and throughout competitions, effectively meaning elite DSD runners would be constantly on medication to stay eligible for the biggest events like the Olympics and world championships. That has troubled medical experts and ethicists, who have questioned the 'off-label' use of birth control pills for the purpose of sports eligibility. Semenya is not alone Advertisement While Semenya is the only athlete currently challenging the regulations, three other women who have won Olympic medals — Francine Niyonsaba of Burundi, Margaret Wambui of Kenya and Christine Mboma of Namibia — have also been sidelined by the rules. The issue came to a head at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, when Semenya, Niyonsaba and Wambui won the gold, silver and bronze medals in the 800 meters when the rules were temporarily suspended. Supporters of the ban cited that result as evidence they had an insurmountable advantage over other women. World Athletics is now considering a total ban on DSD athletes like Semenya. Its president, Sebastian Coe, said in 2023 that up to 13 women in elite track and field fell under the rules without naming them. What Thursday's decision means Advertisement Track's DSD rules became a blueprint for other sports like swimming, another high-profile Olympic code that has regulations. Soccer is considering testosterone rules in women's competitions. Sex eligibility is a burning issue for the International Olympic Committee and new president, Kirsty Coventry, who was elected in March. It was brought into urgent focus for the IOC after a sex eligibility scandal erupted at last year's Paris Olympics over female boxers Imane Khelif of Algeria and Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan. Most sports will watch the direction of Semenya's case closely as it is sent back to the Swiss Supreme Court, and possibly to sport's highest court, even though that could take years. The ultimate outcome — whether a victory for Semenya or for World Athletics — would set a definitive precedent for sports because there has never been a case like it. ___ AP Sports:
CNA
10-07-2025
- Sport
- CNA
Europe court says athlete Semenya's trial wasn't fair in gender testing case
STRASBOURG: A top European court on Thursday (Jul 10) said a Swiss court did not give double Olympic champion Caster Semenya a fair trial in a much-awaited appeals ruling over contested gender testing. The European Court of Human Rights' decision comes after a row engulfed the 2024 Paris Olympics over the gender of an Algerian boxing champion. Semenya, a 34-year-old South African runner, is classed as having " differences in sexual development", but has always been legally identified as female. She has been unable to compete in her favoured 800m category since 2018, after she refused to take drugs to reduce her testosterone levels under new rules from World Athletics, the governing body for track and field. Semenya told journalists the ECHR's decision was a "positive outcome". "We need to respect athletes, we need to put their rights first," said the athlete, who was the Olympic 800m champion in 2012 and 2016 and world gold medallist in 2009, 2011 and 2017. "It's just a reminder to the leaders to say priorities lie on the protection of athletes." Semenya has embarked on a long legal marathon to contest the World Athletics rules. The Lausanne-based Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled against her in 2019 and the decision was validated by the Swiss Federal Court in Lausanne in 2020. It judged that a testosterone level comparable to that of men gave female athletes "an insurmountable advantage". The ECHR found that the case had required a "rigorous judicial review that was commensurate with the seriousness of the personal rights at issue", but the Swiss federal court's review had "fallen short of that requirement". It ruled that, as such, Semenya "had not benefitted from the safeguards provided for" in the European Convention on Human Rights, and ordered Switzerland to pay the athlete €80,000 (US$93,000) for her expenses. "FIGHT NEVER OVER" A lower chamber at the ECHR in 2023 ruled that Semenya was the victim of discrimination by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Its decision was however largely symbolic as it did not call into question the World Athletics ruling nor allow Semenya to return to competition without taking medication. Swiss authorities, supported by World Athletics, appealed to the European court's 17-member Grand Chamber, leading to Thursday's ruling. Semenya had also hoped that the Grand Chamber would uphold that she had been victim of discrimination, but it said those complaints were inadmissible as they did not fall under Switzerland's jurisdiction. She said on Thursday she would continue to demand dignity and respect for athletes. "The fight will never be over," she said. "As long as we have injustice, we fight till the court." There are many types of "differences in sexual development", a group of rare conditions involving genes, hormones and reproductive organs. Formerly known as intersexuality, they occur in approximately one in 1,000 to 4,500 births. Semenya was born with the "46 XY" chromosome, rather than the XX chromosome most women have. Before the 2009 world championships, where Semenya won the 800m gold aged just 18, she was forced to undergo gender testing. She was subsequently put on medication to reduce testosterone levels. But Semenya said she felt she was being treated like a "human guinea pig" and vowed to never again allow it. Testosterone is produced by men and women, but men produce 20 times more of the sex hormone. But how much the hormone boosts performance remains a matter of debate. "DEGRADING" The International Olympic Committee is weighing reintroducing gender testing. World Athletics and World Boxing have already adopted chromosomal testing - generally a cheek swab to check for the SRY gene, which reveals the presence of the Y chromosome. World Aquatics in 2023 adopted a policy that foresees such testing. Supporters say such screening simplifies access to women's competition, and UN rapporteur Reem Alsalem has said such tests are "reliable and non-invasive". But Madeleine Pape, a sociologist of gender in sport, says there is a lack of research proving that transgender athletes or those with one of the many forms of DSD gain a "disproportionate advantage" over XX competitors. Human Rights Watch has argued that World Athletics regulations "are degrading and invasive of privacy, on grounds that are scientifically contested". The gender debate reignited in June around Paris Olympic boxing champion Imane Khelif.
Yahoo
10-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Human rights court rules Olympic champion runner Semenya did not get fair hearing in Switzerland
South Africa's Caster Semenya sits in the European Court of Human Rights before its decision over sex eligibility rules in sports, Thursday, July 10, 2025 in Strasbourg, eastern France. (AP Photo/Antonin Utz) South Africa's Caster Semenya speaks to lawyer Gregory Nott, right, in the European Court of Human Rights before a decision over sex eligibility rules in sports, Thursday, July 10, 2025 in Strasbourg, eastern France. (AP Photo/Antonin Utz) South Africa's Caster Semenya leaves in the European Court of Human Rights Thursday, July 10, 2025 in Strasbourg, eastern France. (AP Photo/Antonin Utz) South Africa's Caster Semenya leaves in the European Court of Human Rights Thursday, July 10, 2025 in Strasbourg, eastern France. (AP Photo/Antonin Utz) South Africa's Caster Semenya sits in the European Court of Human Rights before its decision over sex eligibility rules in sports, Thursday, July 10, 2025 in Strasbourg, eastern France. (AP Photo/Antonin Utz) South Africa's Caster Semenya speaks to lawyer Gregory Nott, right, in the European Court of Human Rights before a decision over sex eligibility rules in sports, Thursday, July 10, 2025 in Strasbourg, eastern France. (AP Photo/Antonin Utz) South Africa's Caster Semenya leaves in the European Court of Human Rights Thursday, July 10, 2025 in Strasbourg, eastern France. (AP Photo/Antonin Utz) STRASBOURG, France (AP) — Two-time Olympic champion runner Caster Semenya won a partial victory at the European Court of Human Rights on Thursday in her seven-year legal fight against track and field's sex eligibility rules. The court's 17-judge highest chamber said Semenya had her rights to a fair hearing violated at Switzerland's Supreme Court, where she had appealed against a ruling by the Court in Arbitration for Sport in favor of track and field's World Athletics. Advertisement Her case should now go back to the Swiss federal court in Lausanne. Europe's top human rights court in Strasbourg, France, dismissed other aspects of Semenya's appeal. ___ AP Sports:
