As the Paris Olympics draws ever closer, it’s a travesty that one of the best-ever athletes, was not given the freedom to compete during her peak years.
I am of course talking about South Africa’s Caster Semenya. The gold medal winner in the women’s 800 metres in 2012 and 2016, was never allowed to run free at the Olympics after the Rio edition. Earlier this week, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) announced it would examine the 33-year-old Semenya’s appeal on the World Athletics (WA) ruling on Differences of Sexual Development (DSD) athletes.
After the 2016 Rio Olympics, WA introduced new testosterone regulations for DSD athletes like Semenya. There were testosterone regulations for women first created in 2011, but they were suspended in 2015.
Beforehand, WA studies focussed on Semenya and therefore had data from all the events Semenya ever competed in. Those events ranged from 400m to the mile, and WA therefore came out with the testosterone-lowering requirements for DSD athletes competing in those events. Last year, WA extended that ban to all track and field events.
Proudest moment of her career
Semenya’s win in Rio was probably the proudest moment of her career. Semenya had also won gold at the previous edition of the Olympics in London in 2012, but that was only after being upgraded from silver to gold, after finishing second to Russian Mariya Savinova who was disqualified for doping years later. It meant that in Rio, it was the first time Semenya had stood atop the podium at the Olympics.
It’s ironic that the only person that ever beat Semenya on the biggest stage was Savinova. After WA readjusted its crosshairs on Semenya, the middle distance runner was now being forced to ‘dope’ to become eligible to compete.
Semenya’s two options were then, either take the medication and continue competing in her favourite events or ‘run free’ in distances that would not be at all suited to her. It would essentially be like asking Usain Bolt to run a marathon.
Things began to look up for Semenya again in 2023, though. She won her case in the ECHR which ruled the double Olympic champion was the victim of discrimination, but she was still barred from competing on the track for the foreseeable future.
While Semenya’s victory in the courtroom was a landmark moment for human rights, the decision ultimately didn’t change anything on the athletics track, WA insisted.
“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 (CAS) and Swiss Federal Tribunal both found,” WA said in a statement.
Human rights law apply to athletes
Semenya’s lawyers responded at the time: “Caster has never given up her fight to be allowed to compete and run free. This important personal win for her is also a wider victory for elite athletes around the world. It means that sporting governance bodies around the world must finally recognise that human rights law and norms apply to the athletes they regulate.”
It was sad to see Semenya try to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in both the 200m and 1500m, as she would come up way short. In the 1500m, Semenya missed out on qualifying by 22 seconds. Here was a former world-beater, reduced to an average athlete finishing in the middle of the pack — simply because of the way she was born.
Paris 2024 likely would have been Semenya’s last hurrah, and in a different world she may have been a four-time Olympic champion.
Instead, the legal route was first started by Semenya in 2018, and though she does seem to be making headway — any real changes to the rules that would allow her to run freely would only potentially come when she would be far too old to be competitive.
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