Olympic champion Caster Semenya wins appeal against testosterone rules at human rights court

Double Olympic champion runner Caster Semenya won an appeal against track and field's testosterone rules on Tuesday when the European Court of Human Rights ruled she was discriminated against and there were “serious questions” about the rules' validity.

World Athletics, which enforces the regulations, said in reaction to the decision that its rules would remain in place, however, meaning there would not be an immediate return to top-level competition for the South African runner.

Semenya's case at the rights court was against the government of Switzerland, and not World Athletics itself, although the decision was still a major moment in throwing doubt on the future of the rules.

Semenya was legally identified as female at birth and has identified as female her entire life, but regulations introduced by track and field's governing body in 2019 forced her to artificially suppress her natural testosterone to be allowed to compete in women's competitions.

World Athletics says she has one of a number of conditions known as differences in sex development, which results in a natural testosterone level in the typical male range and which gives her an unfair advantage in women's competitions.

Semenya has been challenging the testosterone rules in the courts for years, but had previously lost an appeal at sport's highest court in 2019 and a second challenge against the rules at Switzerland's supreme court in 2020.

That second rejection of her appeal was the reason why the Swiss government was the respondent in the European Court of Human Rights case.

The Strasbourg-based rights court ruled in Semenya's favour by a 4-3 majority of judges on the complaint of discrimination and noted she was denied an “effective remedy” against that discrimination through the two previous cases she lost at the Court of Arbitration for Sport and the Swiss supreme court.

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