Olympic athlete Caster Semenya has repeatedly come into conflict with competition rules set out by the athletics governing body, World Athletics (formerly known as the IAAF). These rules require athletes like Semenya, who has what is known as a difference of sexual development (DSD), to reduce their blood testosterone level when competing in a number of events. These rules have meant that Semenya has not been allowed to compete in her preferred events since 2019.
Semenya first brought legal action against these rules at the court of arbitration for sport (CAS), based in Switzerland. This challenge was rejected, as were several subsequent appeals.
Semenya has now had a legal victory at the European court of human rights, which found that the Swiss state violated her human rights in its handling of earlier cases. Four out of the court’s seven judges agreed that Switzlerand’s courts failed to consider Semenya’s human rights in sufficient depth when hearing her case.
