Olympic champion Caster Semenya wins appeal against testosterone rules at human rights court

The ruling could force sport’s highest court to re-examine the regulations that force Caster Semenya and other female athletes to artificially reduce naturally high testosterone levels in order to compete.

FILE PHOTO: South Africa’s runner Caster Semenya, left, and her lawyer Gregory Nott in 2019. | Photo Credit: Laurent Gillieron/Keystone via AP

Double Olympic champion runner Caster Semenya won an appeal against track and field’s testosterone rules on Tuesday when the European Court of Human Rights ruled she had been discriminated against.

The ruling could force sport’s highest court to re-examine the regulations that force Semenya and other female athletes to artificially reduce naturally high testosterone levels in order to compete at top meets such as the Olympics and World Championships.

The Strasbourg-based rights court ruled in Semenya’s favor by a 4-3 majority of judges.

READ: Asian Athletics Championship 2023: All you need to know, schedule, Indians in action

The court also ruled that the South African runner was denied an “effective remedy” against that discrimination when the Court of Arbitration for Sport and Switzerland’s Supreme Court denied her two previous appeals against the rules.

It was not immediately clear if the ruling would force an immediate rollback of the rules and if the 32-year-old Semenya would be allowed to compete at next year’s Olympics in Paris.

She was the 2012 and 2016 Olympic champion in 800 meters but has been barred from running in that event since 2019 by the testosterone rules. She did not defend her title at the Tokyo Olympics.