South African Olympian Caster Semenya To Legally Challenge Track & Field Testosterone Levels Rule

Caster Semenya, a South African track and field star who is a two-time Olympic champion, announced Monday that she would seek to legally challenge the sport’s controversial rule on allowed testosterone levels for female athletes.

Olympic Track Star Caster Semenya To Challenge Testosterone Rule

According to the New York Times, the 27-year-old runner has said the rule is medically unnecessary, “discriminatory, irrational, unjustifiable.” The regulation, which was introduced in April, is set to be applied to races ranging from 400 meters to 1 mile starting in November.

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Semenya, a three-time world champion, has been asked by sports executives to undergo gender testing — as she was perceived to be intersex — although none of her results have ever been publicly disclosed.

“I don’t like talking about this new rule,” Semenya said in a television interview. “I just want to run naturally, the way I was born. It is not fair that I am told I must change. It is not fair that people question who I am.”

She continued: “I am Mokgadi Caster Semenya. I am a woman and I am fast.”

Semenya will fight the International Association of Athletics Federations, track and field’s governing body, to dispute the rule that attempts to limit female runners with high testosterone levels. The case is set to be heard in a court in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Testosterone is a hormone that raises strength, muscle mass and haemoglobin, which is related to endurance.

The IAAF claimed in a statement Sunday that athletes with sexual development differences could potentially gain a 5-6 percent advantage in competitions compared to athletes with testosterone in the normal range for women, “which is an enormous difference in events where milliseconds count. The effects are most clearly seen in races over distances between 400 meters and one mile,” the statement read.

Per the Times, the new rule would apply to women with testosterone levels of five nanomoles per liter or higher. This could thus affect eligibility requirements for global sports events like the Olympics.

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A female athlete who does not wish to reduce her testosterone levels would thus be required to do one of the following: run for distances longer than one mile, compete solely against men, or participate in competitions designed exclusively for intersex athletes.

If they fail to meet any of these requirements, female runners would have to forgo their eligibility to compete in major international competitions.

The IAAF clarified that it would not force intersex athletes to have reproductive surgery, and that it was not accusing these types of athletes of cheating. The organization said the rule was simply only intended “to ensure fair and meaningful competition.”