Caster Semenya - The African Mirror

Nov

2023

Semenya case referred to European rights court’s grand chamber

THE European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) announced that the case involving double 800 metres Olympic champion Caster Semenya will be heard by its Grand Chamber for a final ruling following a referral request from the Swiss government. Semenya, 32, wants to hold the sport's governing World Athletics body to account for what she terms discrimination against athletes with hyperandrogenism, a condition characterised by higher than usual levels of testosterone, a hormone that increases muscle mass and strength. She is attempting to overturn requirements that female athletes with differences in sexual development (DSDs) medically reduce their testosterone levels. Following an…

Oct

2023

By HUGO BOOGAERDT

Olympics no longer Semenya’s major goal amid court fight

NEWS

DOUBLE Olympic 800m champion Caster Semenya’s major aim is no longer to win medals but to continue her legal battle against World Athletics to overturn requirements that female athletes with differences in sexual development (DSDs) medically reduce their testosterone levels. Semenya, 32, wants to hold World Athletics to account for what she terms discrimination against athletes with hyperandrogenism, a condition characterised by higher than usual levels of testosterone, a hormone that increases muscle mass and strength. Although still training, Semenya appears to have given up on her career on the track as she turns to coaching and maintaining her legal…

Jul

2023

By The African Mirror

Semenya says discrimination verdict was ‘long time coming’

ATHLETICS

THE verdict of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in the case of Caster Semenya raises "serious questions" about the validity of World Athletics’ requirement that female athletes with high natural testosterone levels take drugs to lower it, the South African athlete said. The ECHR ruled, by a slender majority of four votes to three, on Tuesday that the double Olympic 800m champion's original appeal against World Athletics regulations had not been properly heard by the Swiss Federal Tribunal, criticising the process followed rather than the verdict reached. Semenya, 32, is an athlete with XY chromosomes and differences in…

Jul

2023

By NICK SAID

Still a long road for Semenya despite winning discrimination ruling

NEWS

DOUBLE Olympic 800 metres champion Caster Semenya has taken a potentially small step towards competing at Paris 2024 but there is a long way to go in her battle against World Athletics regulations that have kept her largely idle for four years. South African Semenya, an athlete with differences in sexual development (DSDs), has been involved in a legal battle over regulations that prohibit her from running unless she medically lowers her natural testosterone levels. The 32-year-old middle-distance runner first took her fight to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), sport's highest court, and later the Swiss Federal Tribunal…

Jul

2023

By The African Mirror

Court says Semenya can appeal testosterone limit for female athletes

NEWS

EUROPE'S top human rights court ruled in favour of Olympic runner Caster Semenya, saying courts in Switzerland should give her a new chance to fight a requirement that female athletes with high natural testosterone take drugs to lower it. The South African double Olympic 800m champion, 32, had approached the European Court of Human Rights in February 2021 after losing appeals to CAS, the sport's highest court, and the Swiss Federal Tribunal (SFT) in a long-running legal battle. The ECHR ruled, by a slender majority of four votes to three, that Semenya's original appeal against World Athletics regulations had not…

Aug

2021

By The African Mirror

Olympics-Athletics-Namibian sprinters resurrect ‘paradox’ of DSD rules

SPORT

MITCH PHILLIPS THE presence of Namibian teenagers Beatrice Masilingi and Christine Mboma in the Olympic women's 200 metres final weeks after they were banned from the 400m due to excess levels of testosterone has reopened the debate about DSD athletes. The two 18-year-olds are the latest to fall foul of the rules regarding female athletes with Differences of Sexual Development (DSD) after more than a decade of the sport's authorities wrestling with the issue. A DSD or intersex athlete is broadly described as one who has XY sex chromosomes, has a blood testosterone level in the male range and has…

Nov

2020

By The African Mirror

Semenya to take fight to European Court of Human Rights

NEWS

SOUTH African double Olympic 800-metre champion Caster Semenya is to take her fight with World Athletics to the European Court of Human Rights, her lawyers have confirmed. Semenya is one of a number of female athletes with differences in sexual development (DSDs) competing in races ranging from 400 metres to a mile, who World Athletics insist must reduce their naturally high levels of testosterone in order to run. This can be done either through the use of drugs or surgical interventions. Semenya has vowed to fight the regulations, but has already lost an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for…

Sep

2020

By The African Mirror

Olympic champion Caster Semenya’s 11-year battle to compete

SPORT

RACHEL SAVAGE CASTER Semenya, the South African double Olympic 800 metres champion, lost her appeal against World Athletics rules that women with high natural testosterone levels must take drugs to reduce them to compete in middle-distance races. Switzerland's top court on Tuesday upheld a 2019 ruling by sport's highest court, the Court of Arbitration, that the global governing body's rules were necessary for fair female competition. WHY DID SEMENYA GO TO COURT? Semenya both wowed and raised eyebrows when she became 800 metres world champion at the age of 18 in 2009, having recorded dramatic improvements in her personal bests.…

Sep

2020

By The African Mirror

Semenya loses appeal against CAS ruling over testosterone regulations

SPORT

DOUBLE Olympic 800 metres champion Caster Semenya has lost her appeal to the Swiss Federal Tribunal (SFT) to set aside a 2019 Court of Arbitration (CAS) ruling that female athletes with high natural testosterone levels must take medication to reduce it. But the South African has indicated that she may continue her battle in the European and domestic courts ahead of the Olympics in Tokyo next year, vowing to "fight for human rights". Semenya approached the tribunal in May last year after CAS, sport's highest court, ruled that the regulations of the sport's governing body World Athletics were necessary for…