South African double 800m Olympic champion Caster Semenya’s right to a fair hearing was violated by the Swiss Federal Supreme Court when she lost a 2023 appeal against World Athletics.
On Thursday, 10 July, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled in her favour, finding that Switzerland failed to protect her from discrimination over testosterone regulations.
When she lost her appeal in 2023, the international governing body regulations effectively barred her from competing, as per a report filed by the BBC.
However, in a landmark 15–2 ruling, the ECHR found that the Swiss Federal Supreme Court erred when it dismissed her appeal against World Athletics’ controversial regulations.
The case will now return to Switzerland for reconsideration with the current regulations remaining in force.
The Limpopo-born Semenya has been awarded €80,000 (R1.4 million) in legal costs, but more importantly, this is a major procedural victory for her and could open the door to future legal challenges against the rules that have sidelined her from competition.
Semenya is appealing against World Athletics regulations that female athletes with differences in sexual development (DSDs) must medically reduce their testosterone levels.
Under World Athletics rules, female DSD athletes must lower their level of testosterone to below 2.5 nmol/L for at least six months to compete. This can be done medically or surgically.
Semenya, 34, is not seeking a return to the track and has turned to coaching, but says she is carrying on the fight for other DSD athletes, who she says are discriminated against.
“It’s a battle for human rights now. It’s not about competing. It’s about putting athletes’ rights first. It’s about the protection of athletes,” said Semenya recently.
It all started in 2019 when Semenya challenged the rules but lost at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland and again at the Swiss Supreme Court in 2020.
But the ECHR ruled in July 2023, by a majority of four votes to three, that Semenya’s original appeal to a Swiss Federal Tribunal against the regulations had not been properly heard.
The Swiss courts, encouraged by World Athletics, appealed that verdict to the ECHR Grand Chamber, which has now found in her favour.
Courtesy of the BBC and Reuters.
