Double Olympic 800-meter champion Caster Semenya says she is “no risk” to ladies’ sport. The latest feedback from the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) President Sebastian Coe has reopened old wounds.
Semenya is looking ahead to a Court of Arbitration for Sport verdict on her appeal towards an IAAF law that says female athletes classed as having differences in sexual improvement (DSDs) advantage an improper benefit because of their higher testosterone levels, even though most straightforward in races between 400 and 1,000m.
Under the brand new rules, athletes classed as having DSDs have to lessen their blood testosterone level to under five (5) nmol/L for a continuous period of six months before they can compete. Then, they have to maintain it to that degree continuously.
The Court announced its decision on Tuesday. However, it has been postponed until April, which is past due.
Coe advised Australia’s Daily Telegraph on the weekend: “The purpose we’ve gender class is because if you did not, then no woman could ever win any other name or every other medal or spoil another document in our game.”
In response, Semenya asserted through her attorneys: “The scars Ms. Semenya has developed during the last decade run deep.
“Reading the remarks of Mr. Coe this weekend opened those old wounds, and the reference via the Daily Telegraph (Australia) to ‘the muscle-packed Semenya’ is just the trendy illustration of how the problems were distorted through innuendo.”
The assertion persisted: “Mr. Coe is wrong to assume Ms. Semenya is a risk to women’s sport,” calling her a “heroine” and “inspirational role model” to younger ladies.
Semenya also sought to distinguish her case from the ones of transgender athletes who were previously male but have now entered the female sporting arena.
“Ms. Semenya is a girl. There is no debate or question about this, and the IAAF does not dispute this,” the statement continued.
“She was born a girl, raised a girl, socialized as a girl, and has competed as a girl her entire life.
“Mr. Coe may additionally have perspectives about transgender women in the game. However, that could be a different problem.
“Ms. Semenya no longer wishes to go through medical intervention to exchange who she is and how she became born. She wants to compete naturally.”
