South African double Olympic champion Caster Semenya celebrates a significant victory as the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) raises alarming questions about the legitimacy of World Athletics’ contentious regulation. The regulation mandates female athletes with naturally high testosterone levels to undergo hormone suppression treatment.
This ruling has sent shockwaves through the world of sports, sparking debates about fairness and discrimination. Semenya’s triumph marks a pivotal moment in the ongoing battle for gender equality in athletics, demanding a thorough reevaluation of the regulations that have impacted her career and those of numerous other athletes.
The court, located in Strasbourg, France, expressed doubts regarding the validity of the contentious international athletics regulations, stating that they infringed upon Semenya’s human rights. The Swiss government has also been instructed to compensate Semenya with 60,000 euros ($66,000) for costs and expenses.
Despite this pivotal judgment, Tuesday’s ruling did not lead to an immediate abandonment of the rules as Semenya continues her pursuit to compete without restrictions and aim for another gold medal at the upcoming 2024 Olympics in Paris. Such changes may take several years to materialize.
Semenya was identified as female at birth, raised as a girl, and has legally been recognized as female throughout her life. She has a condition known as differences in sex development (DSD), which is one of several conditions that result in naturally high testosterone levels within the typical male range.
Semenya’s legal challenge against the testosterone regulations began in 2018. The case has progressed from the Switzerland-based Court of Arbitration for Sport to the Swiss supreme court and now to the European Court of Human Rights. The 4-3 ruling in favour of Semenya by a panel of human rights judges has only set the stage for the Swiss supreme court to reconsider its decision. This may result in the case being referred back to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, which, in turn, could lead to the possible removal of the highly controversial rules enforced by World Athletics.
At 32 years old, Semenya has already lost four years of her prime athletic career. With only 13 months remaining until the Paris Olympics, time is of the essence for her.
Shortly after the European Court of Human Rights ruling was published, World Athletics displayed no intention of yielding, asserting that its rules would remain in place, saying, “We remain of the view that the … regulations are a necessary, reasonable and proportionate means of protecting fair competition in the female category as the Court of Arbitration for Sport and Swiss Federal Tribunal both found.”
World Athletics maintains that the regulations regarding athletes with DSDs are a necessary, reasonable, and proportionate means of ensuring fair competition in the female category, as previously determined by the Court of Arbitration for Sport and the Swiss Federal Tribunal after careful evaluation of the evidence. They added, “This case was filed against the state of Switzerland, rather than World Athletics, and the finding is against Switzerland not World Athletics. The current DSD regulations, approved by the World Athletics Council in March 2023, will remain in place,”