Following Semenya's victory at the 2009 World Championships, she was made to undergo sex testing, and cleared to return to competition the following year.[8][9] The decision to perform sex testing sparked controversy in the sporting world and in Semenya's home country of South Africa. Later reports disclosed that Semenya has the intersex condition 5α-Reductase 2 deficiency and natural testosterone levels in the typical male range.[10][11]
In 2019, new IAAF (World Athletics) rules came into force for athletes like Semenya with certain disorders of sex development (DSDs) requiring medication to suppress testosterone levels in order to participate in 400m, 800m, and 1500m women's events. Semenya refused to undergo the treatment, which is now mandatory.[12] She has filed a series of legal cases to restore her ability to compete in these events without testosterone suppression, arguing that the World Athletics rules are discriminatory.[13]
Early life and education
Semenya was born in Ga-Masehlong, a village in South Africa near Polokwane, and grew up in the village of Fairlie in South Africa's northern Limpopo province. She has three sisters and a brother.[14][15]
In the African Junior Championships, Semenya won both the 800 m and 1500 m races with the times of 1:56.72 and 4:08.01, respectively.[28][29] With that race she improved her 800 m personal best by seven seconds in less than nine months, including four seconds in that race alone.[16][30] The 800 m time was the world leading time in 2009 at that date.[30] It was also a national record and a championship record. Semenya simultaneously beat the Senior and Junior South African records held by Zelda Pretorius at 1:58.85, and Zola Budd at 2:00.90, respectively.[31]
In August, Semenya won gold in the 800 metres at the World Championships with a time of 1:55.45 in the final, again setting the fastest time of the year.[32]
In December 2009, Track and Field News voted Semenya the Number One Women's 800-metre runner of the year.[33]
Sex verification tests
Following her victory at the world championships, questions were raised about her sex.[16][30][34][35] Having beaten her previous 800m best by four seconds at the African Junior Championships just a month earlier,[36] her quick improvements came under scrutiny. The combination of her rapid athletic progression and her appearance culminated in World Athletics (formerly called the IAAF) asking her to take a sex verification test to ascertain whether she was female.[37][38] The IAAF says it was "obliged to investigate" after she made improvements of 25 seconds at 1500 m and eight seconds at 800 m– "the sort of dramatic breakthroughs that usually arouse suspicion of drug use".[39]
The sex test results were never published officially, but some results were leaked in the press and were widely discussed, resulting in at the time unverified claims about Semenya having an intersex trait.[40][41]
In November 2009, South Africa's sports ministry issued a statement that Semenya[42] had reached an agreement with the IAAF to keep her medal and award.[43] Eight months later, in July 2010, she was cleared again to compete in women's competitions.[44][45]
Reaction
News that the IAAF requested the test broke three hours before the 2009 World Championships 800 m final.[30] IAAF president Lamine Diack stated, "There was a leak of confidentiality at some point and this led to some insensitive reactions."[46] The IAAF's handling of the case spurred many negative reactions.[47] A number of athletes, including retired sprinter Michael Johnson, criticised the organisation for its response to the incident.[48][49] There was additional outcry from South Africans, alleging undertones of European racism and imperialism embedded in the gender testing. Many local media reports highlighted these frustrations and challenged the validity of the tests with the belief that through Semenya's testing, members of the Global North did not want South Africans to excel.[50]
The IAAF said it confirmed the requirement for a sex verification test after the news had already been reported in the media, denying charges of racism and expressing regret about "the allegations being made about the reasons for which these tests are being conducted".[39][51] The federation also explained that the motivation for the test was not suspected cheating but a desire to determine whether she had a "rare medical condition" giving her an "unfair advantage".[52] The president of the IAAF stated that the case could have been handled with more sensitivity.[53]
On 7 September 2009, Wilfred Daniels, Semenya's coach with Athletics South Africa (ASA), resigned because he felt that ASA "did not advise Ms. Semenya properly". He apologised for personally having failed to protect her.[54] ASA President Leonard Chuene admitted on 19 September 2009 to having subjected Semenya to testing. He had previously lied to Semenya about the purpose of the tests and to others about having performed the tests. He ignored a request from ASA team doctor Harold Adams to withdraw Semenya from the World Championships over concerns about the need to keep her medical records confidential.[55]
Prominent South African civic leaders, commentators, politicians, and activists characterised the controversy as racist, as well as an affront to Semenya's privacy and human rights.[56][57] On the recommendation of South Africa's Minister for Sport and Recreation, Makhenkesi Stofile, Semenya retained the legal firm Dewey & LeBoeuf, acting pro bono, "to make certain that her civil and legal rights and dignity as a person are fully protected".[58][59][60] In an interview with South African magazine YOU Semenya stated, "God made me the way I am and I accept myself."[61] Following the furore, Semenya received great support within South Africa,[48][49] to the extent of being called a cause célèbre.[57]
In March 2010, Semenya was denied the opportunity to compete in the local Yellow Pages Series V Track and Field event in Stellenbosch, South Africa, because the IAAF had yet to release its findings from her sex test.[62]
On 6 July, the IAAF cleared Semenya to return to international competition.[63] The results of the sex tests, however, were not released for privacy reasons.[8] She returned to competition nine days later, winning two minor races in Finland.[64] On 22 August 2010, running on the same track as her World Championship victory, Semenya started slowly but finished strongly, dipping under 2:00 for the first time since the controversy, while winning the ISTAF meet in Berlin.[65]
Not being in full form, she did not enter the World Junior Championships or the African Championships, both held in July 2010, and opted to target the Commonwealth Games to be held in October 2010.[66] She improved her season's best to 1:58.16 at the Notturna di Milano meeting in early September and returned to South Africa to prepare for the Commonwealth Games.[67] Eventually, she was forced to skip the games due to an injury.[68]
2011
After the controversy of the previous year, Semenya returned to action with a moderately low profile, running only 1:58.61 at the Bislett Games as her best prior to the World Championships.[69] During the championships, she easily won her semi-final heat. In the final, she remained in the front of the pack leading into the final straightaway. While she separated from the rest of the field, Mariya Savinova followed her, then sprinted past Semenya before the finish line, leaving her to finish second.[69] In 2017, Savinova was banned for doping and her results were disqualified,[70] resulting in Semenya being awarded the gold medal.
Caster Semenya was chosen to carry the country's flag during the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics.[71] She later won a silver medal in the women's 800 metres of these games, with a time of 1:57.23 seconds, her season's best. She passed six competitors in the last 150 metres, but did not pass world champion Mariya Savinova of Russia, who took gold in a time of 1:56.19, finishing 1.04 seconds before Semenya.[72] During the BBC coverage after the race, former British hurdler Colin Jackson raised the question whether Semenya had thrown the race, as the time that had been run was well within her capability,[73][74] though in fact Semenya had at that point only once in her life run faster than Savinova's winning time, when winning the 2009 World Championships.[75]
In November 2015, the World Anti-Doping Agency recommended Savinova and four other Russian athletes be given a lifetime ban for doping violations at the Olympics.[76] On 10 February 2017, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) officially disqualified Savinova's results backdated to July 2010. The International Olympic Committee reallocated the London 2012 medals, and Semenya's silver was upgraded to gold.[77][78][79]
2015 testosterone rule change
The IAAF policy on high natural levels of testosterone in women, that had been in place since 2011[80] was suspended following the case of Dutee Chand v. Athletics Federation of India (AFI) & The International Association of Athletics Federations, in the Court of Arbitration for Sport, decided in July 2015.[81] The ruling found that there was a lack of evidence provided that testosterone increased female athletic performance and notified the IAAF that it had two years to provide the evidence.[82]
2016
On 16 April, Semenya became the first person to win all three of the 400m, 800m, and 1500m titles at the South African National Championships, setting world leading marks of 50.74 and 1:58.45 in the first two events, and a 4:10.93 in the 1500m, all within a nearly four-hour span of each other.[83][84]
On 16 July, she set a new national record for 800 metres of 1:55:33.[85][86] On 20 August, she won the gold medal in the women's 800 metres at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio with a time of 1:55.28.[87] The win reignited controversy over the rules on permissible testosterone levels; immediately after the race Lynsey Sharp, finishing sixth, broke into tears, having previously said that "everyone can see it's two separate races",[88] while fifth-placed Joanna Jóźwik stated "I feel like the silver medalist... I'm glad I'm the first European, the second white", to finish the race.[89][90] Bioethicist Katrina Karkazis criticised the indignant response to Semenya's win as discriminatory.[90]
Semenya set a new personal best for the 400m of 50.40 at the 2016 Memorial Van Damme track and field meet in Brussels.[91]
In April 2018, the IAAF announced new rules effective 8 May 2019 that applied to athletes with certain disorders of sex development (DSDs) that result in androgen sensitivity and testosterone levels above 5 nmol/L. Under the new rules, these athletes would be required to take medication to lower their testosterone levels below the 5 nmol/L threshold for at least six months in order to compete in the female classification for certain events.[94][95][96][97]
In a report explaining its decision, the IAAF wrote that there was a "broad medical and scientific consensus" that athletes with high testosterone can "significantly enhance their sporting potential" due to greater muscle mass, strength, and haemoglobin levels. The report added that "there is no other genetic or biological trait encountered in female athletics that confers such a huge performance advantage."[98]
The IAAF's changes applied to eight different events—including the 400m, 800m, and 1500m, which Semenya regularly competed in.[99]Sports scientist Ross Tucker estimated that the new rules could make Semenya "five to seven seconds slower over 800 metres."[98] Female athletes without a DSD are not subject to any testosterone limits.[100]
In 2020, Semenya announced that she had decided to switch to the 200 meters for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, in order to avoid the 400m to one mile ban.[102] In order to qualify for the 200 meters, Semenya would have needed to achieve the qualifying time of 22.80.[103] She had previously won the 5000m at the South African championship in 2019.[104]
On 15 April 2021, Semenya confirmed she would not try to make the Tokyo 2020 200m qualifying standard.[105] On 28 May 2021, Semenya ran a personal best of 15:32.15 in the 5000m, 22 seconds slower than the necessary speed to compete at the Olympics.[106]
2022 World Championships
Semenya ran in the 5000 meter race at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon. It was her first major international competition since 2017. She finished almost a minute behind first place in her heat of the semifinals, and did not advance to the finals.[107]
Legal cases against World Athletics
In June 2018, Semenya announced that she would legally challenge the IAAF rules, calling them "discriminatory, irrational, [and] unjustifiable".[108] She claimed that testosterone-suppressing medication, which she had taken from 2010 to 2015, had made her feel "constantly sick" and caused her abdominal pain, and that the IAAF had used her as a "guinea pig" to test the medication's effects.[109]
The case divided legal and scientific commentators. Duke Law School professor and former middle-distance runner Doriane Lambelet Coleman argued that the organization's rules guaranteed a "protected space" for female athletes. Physician and genetics researcher Eric Vilain argued in favor of Semenya, claiming that "sex is not defined by one particular parameter... it's so difficult to exclude women who've always lived their entire lives as women."[110] During the proceedings, the IAAF clarified that the regulations would only apply to DSD athletes with XY chromosomes.[99][111]
In May 2019, the Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected Semenya's challenge in a 2–1 decision, paving the way for the new rules to come into effect. Although the CAS agreed with Semenya that the rules were discriminatory, it concluded that this discrimination was "a necessary, reasonable and proportionate means of achieving the IAAF's aim of preserving the integrity of female athletics".[112][113]
That same month, Semenya appealed the decision to the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland. The court provisionally suspended the World Athletics rules while deciding whether to issue an interlocutory injunction in June.[114] However, this decision was reversed in July, leaving Semenya unable to compete in World Athletics races between 400m and one mile while her appeal continued.[115]
The Swiss supreme court ultimately dismissed Semenya's appeal in September 2020. In its decision, the court affirmed that the CAS had the right to uphold World Athletics' rules "in order to guarantee fair competition for certain running disciplines in female athletics."[116] The court also declared that because Semenya was "free to refuse treatment to lower testosterone levels," her "guarantee of human dignity" was not violated.[117]
In February 2021, Semenya appealed the case to the European Court of Human Rights.[118] In March 2023, World Athletics made its rules for Semenya and other DSD athletes even more restrictive, requiring them to lower their testosterone levels below a threshold of 2.5 nmol/L for at least 24 months before competing.[119] The ECHR ruled in Semenya's favor in a 4–3 decision in July 2023, finding that the competition rules had discriminated against her and infringed on her human rights. However, the decision did not overturn the rules themselves, and World Athletics stated that the regulations would "remain in place."[120]
After a request from the Swiss government, Semenya's case was referred to the ECHR's Grand Chamber in November 2023 for a final ruling.[121]
1 2 In the 2011 World Championships and the 2012 Olympic Games, Semenya finished 2nd to Mariya Savinova, but Savinova was later disqualified due to failing an antidoping test, promoting Semenya to the gold medal in both races.
In 2010, the British magazine New Statesman included Semenya in its annual list of "50 People That Matter" for unintentionally instigating "an international and often ill-tempered debate on gender politics, feminism, and race, becoming an inspiration to gender campaigners around the world".[130]
In 2012, Semenya was awarded South African Sportswoman of the Year Award at the SA Sports Awards in Sun City. Semenya received the bronze Order of Ikhamanga on 27 April 2014, as part of Freedom Day festivities.[131]
Semenya married her long-term partner, Violet Raseboya, in December 2015 (traditional ceremony) and January 2017 (civil ceremony).[132][133][134] They have two daughters, one born in 2019 and another in 2022.[135] Their first daughter was conceived through artificial insemination.[136]
On 31 October 2023, Semenya's memoir, The Race to Be Myself, was published by #Merky Books (an imprint of Penguin Random House UK).[140][141] In The Guardian, Emma John wrote that Semenya's "timely, sometimes angry memoir inspires compassion" while acknowledging that it presented mainly her side of the controversy about her running career.[142] The book was named a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice in December 2023.[143]
Sex verification in sports occurs because eligibility of athletes to compete is restricted whenever sporting events are limited to a single sex, which is generally the case, as well as when events are limited to mixed-sex teams of defined composition. Practice has varied tremendously over time, across borders and by competitive level. Issues have arisen multiple times in the Olympic games and other high-profile sporting competitions, for example allegations that certain male athletes attempted to compete as women or that certain female athletes had intersex conditions perceived to give unfair advantage. The topic of sex verification is related to the more recent question of how to treat transgender people in sports. Sex verification is not typically conducted on athletes competing in the male category because there is generally no perceived competitive advantage for a female or intersex athlete to compete in male categories.
Janeth Jepkosgei Busienei is a Kenyan middle distance runner and former world champion.
Santhi Soundarajan is a track and field athlete from Tamil Nadu, India. She is the winner of 12 international medals for India and around 50 medals for her home state of Tamil Nadu. Soundarajan is the first Tamil woman to win a medal at the Asian Games. She competes in middle distance track events. She was stripped of her silver medal won at the 2006 Asian Games after failing a sex verification test which disputed her eligibility to participate in the women's competition.
Mariya Sergeyevna Savinova is a Russian former athlete who specialized in the 800 metres event. In 2017, she was found guilty of doping and was subsequently suspended from competition for four years. In addition to the ban, she had three years of elite results nullified and was stripped of both her World Championship medals and her 2012 Olympic gold medal.
Yuliya Krevsun is a Ukrainian middle-distance running athlete who specialises in the 800 metres. She is a member of Fenerbahçe Athletics club in Turkey.
The women's 800 metres at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Olympic Stadium on 16, 17 and 19 August. The winning margin was 2.45 seconds which as of 2024 is the greatest winning margin in the women's 800 metres at these championships and the only time this event has been won by more than two seconds at these championships.
The 2009 African Junior Athletics Championships were held in Bambous, Mauritius from 30 July to 2 August. There were 40 events in total, of which 20 were contested by male athletes and 20 by female athletes. Multiple gold medallists Caster Semenya and Amaka Ogoegbunam broke championships records, but also created controversy at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics later that year. Semenya was asked to take a gender test and Ogoegbunam tested positive for anabolic steroids.
The Women's 800 metres competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom. The event was held at the Olympic Stadium on 8–11 August. Mariya Savinova finished the race in first place, but she has since been stripped of the gold medal for doping.
The Women's 800 metres at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Daegu Stadium on September 1, 2 and 4.
Lynsey Sharp is a former Scottish track and field athlete who competed in the 800 metres. She is the 2012 European champion and represented Great Britain at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. She won a silver medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Her personal best is 1:57.69, the seventh fastest time over 800m by a British woman, set in the final of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Melissa Bishop-Nriagu is a Canadian runner who specializes in the 800 metres. She competed at the 2012, 2016 Olympics and 2020 Olympics. She won a silver medal at the 2015 World Athletics Championships. Her World Championship medal was a Canadian woman's first-ever medal in the 800 m. Bishop-Nriagu graduated from University of Windsor and was only the third Canadian woman to achieve a time under 2:00 minutes in the 800 m. She is currently the national record holder for this distance.
Francine Niyonsaba is a Burundian runner who specialized in the 800 metres and shifted to longer distances in 2019. She was the 2016 Rio Olympics silver medalist in the women's 800 metres. Her silver medal was the first Olympic medal for Burundi since 1996. Niyonsaba won a silver in the event at the 2017 World Championships.
Ekaterina Guliyeva is a Russian-born track and field athlete who specializes in the 800 metres and competes for Turkey.
Dutee Chand is an Indian professional sprinter and current national champion in the women's 100 metres event. In 2013, Chand was the first Indian sprinter to reach the final of the 100m event at a global youth athletics competition, and in 2016 she took part in the Rio Olympic Games. She is the third Indian woman to ever qualify for the Women's 100 metres event at the Summer Olympic Games. In 2018, Chand clinched silver in women's 100m at the Jakarta Asian Games. It was India's first medal in this event since 1998. Moreover, In 2019, she became the first Indian sprinter to win gold at the Universiade, clocking 11.32 seconds in the 100 m race.
The women's 800 metres event at the 2016 Summer Olympics took place between 17–20 August at the Olympic Stadium.
Burundi competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. This was the nation's sixth consecutive appearance at the Summer Olympics.
The testosterone regulations in women's athletics are a series of policies first published in 2011 by the IAAF and last updated following a court victory against Caster Semenya in May 2019. The first version of the rules applied to all women with high testosterone, but the current version of the rules only apply to athletes with certain XY disorders of sexual development, and set a 5 nmol/L testosterone limit, which applies only to distances between 400 m and 1 mile (inclusive), other events being unrestricted.
Beatrice Masilingi is a Namibian sprinter. At the age of 18, she placed sixth in the 200 metres at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, having made the final along with fellow Namibian sprinter and eventual silver medallist Christine Mboma. Masilingi won silver medals in both the 100 metres and 200 m at the 2021 World Under-20 Championships.
Christine Mboma is a Namibian sprinter who competes in the 100 metres and 200 m. At the age of 18, she won a silver medal in the 200 metres at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, becoming the first ever Namibian woman to win a women's Olympic medal and breaking the world under-20 and African senior record. Mboma also won the event at the 2021 World Under-20 Championships and Diamond League final, improving her record mark to 21.78 seconds.
Prudence Tebogo Sekgodiso, also spelled Prudence Sekgodisa, is a South African middle-distance runner specializing in the 800 metres. She was the gold medalist in the 800 m at the 2019 African U18 Championships. She is also a five-time South African Athletics Championships winner in the 1500 m and 800 m.
↑ Dworkin, Shair (2012). "The (Mis)Treatment of South African Track Star Caster Semenya". Sexual Diversity in Africa: Politics, Theory, and Citizenship: 129–148.
↑ Branch, John (27 July 2016). "Dutee Chand, Female Sprinter With High Testosterone Level, Wins Right to Compete". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 May 2016. The Court of Arbitration for Sport, based in Switzerland, questioned the athletic advantage of naturally high levels of testosterone in women and therefore immediately suspended the practice of 'hyperandrogenism regulation' by track and field's governing body, the International Association of Athletics Federations. It gave the organization, known as the I.A.A.F., two years to provide more persuasive scientific evidence linking 'enhanced testosterone levels and improved athletic performance'.
1 2 Court of Arbitration for Sport (1 May 2019), Semenya, ASA and IAAF: Executive Summary(PDF), retrieved 1 June 2019, During the course of the proceedings before the CAS, the IAAF explained that, following an amendment to the DSD Regulations, the DSD covered by the Regulations are limited to "46 XY DSD" – i.e. conditions where the affected individual has XY chromosomes. Accordingly, no individuals with XX chromosomes are subjected to any restrictions or eligibility conditions under the DSD Regulations
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