After gender ruling, Semenya to run in Doha

Published May 3, 2019
DOHA: IAAF president Sebastian Coe (L) and Qatar Athletics Federation president Dr. Thani Abdulrahman 
Al- Kuwari attend a news conference on Thursday.—AP
DOHA: IAAF president Sebastian Coe (L) and Qatar Athletics Federation president Dr. Thani Abdulrahman Al- Kuwari attend a news conference on Thursday.—AP

DOHA: Caster Semenya has responded to losing her legal challenge against new gender rules by entering the 800 metres in Friday’s Doha Diamond League meeting, while she hinted at ending her career in several cryptic tweets.

Semenya, the double Olympic champion at the distance, was added to the 800m start list on Thursday morning, a day after her appeal against a new rule regulating testosterone levels for women athletes was rejected by the Court for Arbitration of Sport (CAS).

Doha organisers said the South African runner had waited for the outcome of Wednesday’s CAS hearing in Lausanne, Switzerland, before deciding whether to run in the meeting that opens the Diamond League season.

Semenya had challenged the measures, introduced by the Inter­national Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), that will force women with higher than normal male hormone levels — so-called “hyperandrogenic” athletes — to artificially lower the amount of testosterone in their bodies if they are to continue competing.

The rules will come into effect on May 8 and will apply to races over distances of 400m to the mile.

Semenya hinted at quitting the sport in a tweet Thursday, saying: “Knowing when to walk away is wisdom. Being able to is courage. Walking away with your head held high is dignity.”

In a later tweet, she said: “They laugh at me because I am different. I laugh at them because they’re all the same.”

Semenya was not present at a press conference in the Qatari capital to hear IAAF president Sebastian Coe defend the CAS decision, saying it helped to create a level playing field in the women’s events.

“I think this is pretty straightforward, and it’s very straightforward for any international federation in sport,” Coe said. “Athletics has two classifications: it has age, it has gender, we are fiercely protective about both and I am really grateful that the Court of Arbitration has upheld that principle.”

Coe said the IAAF will immediately apply its testosterone regulations to the 1,500 metres, ignoring advice from CAS.

The CAS said there was not enough evidence to show Caster Semenya and other female athletes with naturally high testosterone levels had a significant advantage in that event. It specifically said there was “a paucity of evidence” to apply the rules to the 1,500m and one-mile races. The CAS asked the IAAF to delay the rules in those events until it provides more evidence.

Asked if the IAAF would heed that advice from sport’s highest court, Coe gave a one-word answer: “No.”

Coe refused to take more questions, but the case is likely to have far-reaching consequences for women’s sport, and has split opinion around the globe.

Athletics South Africa likened the new IAAF regulations to apartheid, and both it and Semenya’s lawyers have said they could contest the CAS ruling dismissing her appeal against their introduction.

Coe’s response to the 1,500m question fuels Semenya’s argument that the IAAF is deliberately sidelining the 28-year-old star because of her success. The two-time Olympic and three-time world champion in the 800 recently put more focus on the 1,500 as an alternative. She won a bronze medal in the 1,500 at the 2017 world championships.

Barring further legal action, Semenya finds herself at a crossroads: Either she submits to the regulations or looks to compete in longer distances.

She claimed the 5,000 metres title at the South African Athletics Championships last week, an event not covered by the IAAF regulations, but in a modest time of 16:05.97, well below the qualifying standard for the world championships of 15:22.00.

This potential lifeline means Semenya may not abandon the 800m yet, though any advance to the Swiss Federal Tribunal could take months to reach a verdict and leave her career in limbo.

Published in Dawn, May 3rd, 2019

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