South African double Olympic 800m champion, Caster Semenya has won her appeal to the European Court of Human Rights concerning testosterone regulations.
The two-time Olympic champion has been in a year-long legal battle against rules that forced her and other female athletes with naturally high testosterone to reduce those levels through medication in order to be able to compete in women’s track and field races.
The testosterone limits had halted Semenya’s career and barred the three-time world champion from competing in any track events since 2019, prompting appeals to CAS, the sport's highest court, and to the Swiss Federal Tribunal (SFT).
After losing both battles, Semenya approached the ECHR in 2021 who have today ruled that she had been discriminated against; a ruling which could force courts to re-examine the testosterone regulations involving athletes like Semenya with similarly high naturally high testosterone levels.
Caster Semenya approached the ECHR in 2021
PA
The France-based rights court ruled in Semenya’s favour by a 4-3 majority of judges.
A release issued by the ECHR on Tuesday morning stated: “The Court found in particular that the applicant had not been afforded sufficient institutional and procedural safeguards in Switzerland to allow her to have her complaints examined effectively, especially since her complaints concerned substantiated and credible claims of discrimination as a result of her increased testosterone level caused by differences of sex development (DSD).”
In response, the World Athletics’ statement read: “World Athletics notes the judgment of the deeply divided Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
“We remain of the view that the DSD 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, after a detailed and expert assessment of the evidence.
“The case was filed against the state of Switzerland, rather than World Athletics.
“We will liaise with the Swiss Government on the next steps and, given the strong dissenting views in the decision, we will be encouraging them to seek referral of the case to the ECHR Grand Chamber for a final and definitive decision.
“In the meantime, the current DSD regulations, approved by the World Athletics Council in March 2023, will remain in place.”
It is currently not clear whether other sports ruling bodies will roll back on their rules on testosterone regulations, and if this ruling means Semenya would be allowed to compete at next year’s Olympics.
The 32-year-old has not competed at the Olympics since 2016.
