South African two-time Olympic champion Caster Semenya won a partial victory on Thursday as the European Court of Human Rights ruled she did not get a fair trial in her fight against sex eligibility rules.
The court ruled with a 15-2 vote that Semenya's rights to a fair trial were violated in her fight against the regulations that request athletes with "differences of sex development" to lower their natural high levels of testosterone by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) when competing at international competitions.
However, the court declined to rule on several other aspects of Semenya's case, including on the question of whether she was discriminated against in Swiss courts.
Semenya, who won gold in the women's 800 meters at the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games, was barred from competing in the last two Olympics after the Swiss Federal Supreme Court in 2020 upheld a ruling that prohibited athletes with naturally high testosterone levels from participating in international competitions. She refused to take medication to lower her testosterone levels and vowed to take her case to the European Court of Human Rights.
The South African government supported Semenya and provided financial assistance for her legal battle.
In 2019, the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that female athletes with naturally high testosterone levels must take hormonal suppressants to compete in international events. Following the ruling, the IAAF, which changed its name to World Athletics in late 2019, moved to enforce its regulations requiring athletes with differences of sex development to lower their testosterone levels.
Semenya was born female but has naturally high testosterone levels in the male range.
Source: www.dailyfinland.fi
