Caster Semenya D-Day may change future of sport as hearing hangs in balance

Controversy: Caster Semenya has two Olympic golds but has faced questions over her right to compete in women’s events
REUTERS

A single judgement from Lausanne around midday on Wednesday has the potential to change the global face of sport way beyond athletics.

Those on both sides of the Court of Arbitration for Sport hearing between Caster Semenya and the IAAF suggested that the outcome hung in the balance. On one side, Semenya has pleaded for the right to compete as she is. As she put it: “I just want to run naturally the way I was born. It is not fair that I am told I must change. I am Mokgadi Caster Semenya. I am a woman, and I am fast.”

But on the other, the IAAF are adamant that differences of sexual development (DSD) athletes in every distance from the 400metres to the mile must take testosterone suppressants to level the playing field.

And in between, scientists and lawyers have argued, with both sides having merits and problems.

An initial March 26 deadline for the CAS ruling has long since passed, highlighting the complexity of the decision, which is not just about sport but also concerns human rights. The IAAF argue the performance advantage for athletes with a testosterone level above five nanomoles per litre of blood means they cannot compete across the distances in question unless they have had six months of the suppressants.

That period was reduced by a month when the CAS ruling was delayed, thus paving the way for DSD athletes to compete at the World Championships in Doha in September regardless of the decision. Semenya has been bullish about it, using Twitter to describe her legal representatives as the “A team” and putting up such quotes as “don’t trade your authenticity for approval”.

But she is also preparing herself for the fact that she and Athletics South Africa, who brought the case with her, could lose. She competed over 5,000m for the first time and won at her national trials last week, a distance that does not require DSD athletes to take testosterone suppressants

Should the IAAF lose, there are suggestions the sport may look to replace male and female competitions with an ‘A’ and ‘B’ classification system.

The IAAF believe they have the science behind them, with their sports medicine experts Stephane Bermon and Pierre-Yves Garnier arguing there is a boost of up to three per cent for female athletes with higher testosterone levels.

IAAF president Seb Coe has said trying to defend the authenticity of female athletes is at the heart of all this, and he has some very vocal and high-profile supporters, including Martina Navratilova and Paula Radcliffe. But the vitriol that both women have faced on social media highlights the emotive and divisive nature of the issue.

The IAAF are the first international sporting federation to look to find what they believe is the right solution, and the likes of the International Olympic Committee will be looking very closely at the ruling.

There are those who argue the IAAF science is flawed, including Sheree Bekker, who criticised it in a recent British Medical Journal article.

Part of her argument is that “women should be allowed to compete with women, period, otherwise we’re starting to talk about genetic superiority with no basis in truth or humanity”.

Tomorrow in Switzerland, the case will reach its conclusion, and yet the arguments are likely to drag on.

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