Caster Semenya case: Women’s athletics star is ‘biological male’

Caster Semenya (RSA), the double Olympic gold medal winner in the women’s 800 metres, is a “biological male” who should be required to take testosterone blockers to continue competing as female, the CAS court will be told to day.

The hearing in Lausanne, Switzerland, will be a test case for athletes with “differences of sexual development” (DSD) and is likely to influence rules surrounding transgender athletes taking part in women’s sport.

The South African runner Caster Semenya (28) thinks it is unfair that she should have to take medicine to lower testosterone levels in her body.

Lawyers for the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) are preparing to argue at the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS) that Semenya, 28, and other runners like her should be treated as female but are biologically male and should take testosterone suppressants before competing in middle-distance events in which the hormone has its greatest effect.

Semenya, a South African, and her athletics association are challenging IAAF rules that DSD runners should be forced to take testosterone blockers, usually in the form of a contraceptive pill. The case is set to further polarise views over “intersex” athletes. Last year the United Nations’ human rights special procedures body urged the IAAF to drop the proposed regulations, claiming that they contravene international human rights. Human Rights Watch has also said that the rules discriminate against women with naturally high testosterone levels.

A statement from her lawyers said that Semenya should be allowed to compete in women’s races without “unnecessary medical intervention”.

 

It added: “Her case is about the rights of women such as Ms. Semenya who are born as women, reared and socialised as women, who have been legally recognised as women for their entire lives, who have always competed in athletics as women, and who should be permitted to compete in the female category without discrimination.

“Women with differences in sexual development have genetic variations that are no different than other genetic variations that are celebrated in sport.

“She asks that she be respected and treated as any other athlete: Her genetic gift should be celebrated, not discriminated against.”

RIO OLYMPIC 2016 FEMALE 800 m RUN.

The result of the women’s 800m final at the Rio 2016 Olympics encapsulated the difficulties faced by athletics.

Photo; All three medallists in the Rio Olympics 800m faced questions about their testosterone levels.

GOLD	Caster SEMENYA RSA	1:55.28
SILVER	Francine NIYONSABA BDI	1:56.49
BRONZE	Margaret Nyairera WAMBUI KEN	1:56.89

 Photo: PATRICK SMITH/GETTY IMAGES

As well as Semenya, who won the event, the silver and bronze medallists, Francine Niyonsaba of Burundi and Margaret Wambui of Kenya, have also faced questions about their testosterone levels. Britain’s Lynsey Sharp, who finished sixth, said before the race: “Everyone can see that it’s two separate races so there is nothing I can do.”

IAAF IS NOT CLASSIFYING ANY DSD ATHLETE AS MALE.

The IAAF stressed that it was “not classifying any DSD athlete as male. To the contrary, we accept their legal sex without question, and permit them to compete in the female category.

“However, if a DSD athlete has testes and male levels of testosterone, they get the same increases in bone and muscle size and strength and increases in haemoglobin that a male gets when they go through puberty, which is what gives men such a performance advantage over women. Therefore, to preserve fair competition in the female category, it is necessary to require DSD athletes to reduce their testosterone down to female levels before they compete at international level.”

Jonathan Taylor, the IAAF’s London-based lawyer, said that if the case went against the athletics body it would be a serious blow to women athletes with normal levels of testosterone, which are on average 15 times lower than the normal male range.

A NORMALE FEMALE WILL NOT HAVE ANY CHANCE TO WIN.

Mr Taylor said that such a ruling would mean that “DSD and transgender athletes will dominate the podiums and prize money in sport, and women with normal female testosterone levels will not have any chance to win.”

The statement from Semenya’s lawyers responded by saying that while the runner “respects the rights and interests” of transgender athletes, they are not comparable as there are different regulations for DSD athletes and transgender athletes.

DSD ATHLETES WERE BORN GENETICALLY MALE.

The court will hear evidence that Semenya and some other DSD athletes were born genetically male. They have XY chromosomes and a condition — 46, XY disorder of sex development — which inhibited the growth of external male genitals, but still have internal testes which produce normal male levels of testosterone, it will be argued.

Females typically have two of the same kind of sex chromosome (XX), and are called the homogametic sex. Males typically have two different kinds of sex chromosomes (XY), and are called the heterogametic sex.

 

SEMENYA’s 800m TIME WOULD DROP WITH 5-7 sec.

It has been estimated that Semenya’s time for the 800m would drop by five to seven seconds if she were forced to take testosterone blockers.

Jim Bunting, Semenya’s lawyer, said: “Ms Semenya is unquestionably a woman, a heroine and an inspiration to so many around the world. She looks forward to responding to the IAAF at the upcoming CAS hearing, including establishing why these regulations are discriminatory, unfair, deeply harmful and unnecessary.”

Semenya said last year: “I am very upset that I have been pushed into the public spotlight again. I don’t like talking about this new rule.

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

Semenya was born in a village in northern South Africa. She won the world junior 800m title in 2009 and the senior world 800m the following year, but only after taking a gender verification test. She is expected to attend Monday’s hearing, as is Lord Coe, president of the IAAF.

Sorce; The Times, Wikipedia, Anti-Doping World, VG.