What The Landmark Ruling On Caster Semenya’s Case Means For Her Career

Caster Semenya is hyperandrogenous, which means she has elevated levels of testosterone compared to other women. So, is it fair to allow her to compete with them?

This is the big question that made Semenya drag the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), where she challenged their new rules regulating the testosterone levels for athletes with a difference in sex development (DSD).

(Photo: Michael Dodge/Getty Images)

The court shocked us all yesterday with a judgment that upheld the new rules and, at the same time, acknowledged that they were indeed discriminatory. We agree that the main focus here is “fair play for all”, but was CAS fair to Semenya and other athletes like her in that ruling?

Madeline Pape, who competed against Semenya at the 2009 World Athletics Championships in Berlin, doesn’t think so. In an article for The Guardian, the athlete admitted that while she originally thought high testosterone was a problem, she now realises it’s an “outdated” position.

She stated:

“I am convinced that the court of arbitration for sport’s decision to endorse rules aimed at excluding Semenya and other women athletes with naturally high levels of testosterone is the wrong one.”

While Semenya may further appeal to Switzerland’s supreme court in Lausanne, the ruling has huge implications on her career. The South African has dominated women’s middle distance running for a while, and she is expected to defend her world title in September.

Now, she’s caught between a rock and a hard place. Once the rules take effect on May 8, she either takes medication to reduce her testosterone – a move she made in 2011, which cost her the World Championships and the Olympics — or be disallowed from competing at the sport’s highest levels.