generalspeaking

Unsportswomanlike Defiance

"The revised rules are not about cheating; no athlete with a DSD [Differences of Sexual Development] has cheated, they are about levelling the playing field to ensure fair and meaningful competition in the sport of athletics where success is determined by talent, dedication and hard work rather than other contributing factors."
IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federation) President Sebastian Coe

"The panel found that the DSD regulations are discriminatory but the majority of the panel found that, on the basis of the evidence submitted by the parties, such discrimination is a necessary, reasonable and proportionate means of achieving the IAAF's aim of preserving the integrity of female athletics in the restricted events." 
Court of Arbitration for Sport report

"I know that the IAAF's regulations have always targeted me specifically. For a decade the IAAF has tried to slow me down, but this has actually made me stronger."
"The decision of the CAS will not hold me back. I will once again rise above and continue to inspire young women and athletes in South Africa and around the world."
Caster Semenya, South African champion runner

Photo: Caster Semenya may have run her last competitive 800 metres, the Diamond League event at Doha. (Reuters: Ibraheem Al Omari)

At age 18 in 2009 Caster Semenya competed at her first major track meet. Her speed astonished to the degree that organizers insisted on performing sex verification tests on the young athlete. Since that time the runner from South Africa has been battling with track and field's governing body. She insists on the right to run in her 'natural' form.

Twice she won the 800 metre race at the Olympics. But on Wednesday the IAAF prevailed when the highest court in sport agreed with the international track body that she not compete with her 'God-given talents', as she describes them, against other women whose normal testosterone levels cannot compete against a woman who has naturally developed well beyond the normal in her hormone levels, giving her a striking advantage unmatched by others.

Is it then talent that is involved, or the fact that her biology is not reflective of a normal track? Imbued with such high levels of testosterone her competitive advantage is far beyond that of any woman who depends on the talents of fitness, endurance and speed. Ms. Semenya is rather displeased with the court's conclusion and plans to appeal the decision to maintain strict limitations on testosterone amounts women can possess in competing in track events from 40 metres to the mile.

The IAAF brought in those regulations in response to what it has identified as an "unfair advantage" given women with naturally high levels of testosterone; women with abnormally high levels termed athletes with Differences of Sexual Development (DSD). Muscle tone and bone mass are strengthened by the presence of testosterone making it against rules for athletes to use supplementary testosterone. Hyperandrogenism describes some women who have naturally unusual high levels of the hormone.

The CAS panel of Hugh Fraser, Canadian Olympic sprinter turned lawyer, Annabelle Bennett, former Australian federal judge and Swiss judge Hans Naten announced a split decision of two to one that the IAAF rules should remain, after having debated the issue for over two months. "I can say this decision is certainly not the perfect one, but is there a perfect decision in this situation?" rhetorically asked CAS Secretary General Matthieu Reeb.

"Her genetic gift should be celebrated, not discriminated against", responded her lawyers. And this, of course, represents the typical dilemma of how to solve an issue where not to 'discriminate' against someone with an especial advantage, even if it represents a natural endowment, ends up 'discriminating' against other women without that particularly advantageous boost of extra hormones to ensure they come on top in athletic competitions.

To 'even the playing field', Caster Semenya and any other naturally endowed women with excessive testosterone are expected to medicate themselves to lower their testosterone levels to average, rather than superabundant. She ran a the 2011 world championships and the 2012 Olympics under medication to adhere to the testosterone regulations then in effect according to IAAF rules, and she still won silver at both events, losing only to Russian rival Maria Savinova, later stripped of her medals for doping, leaving Semenya to collect those gold medals years later.

Now,  however, she has decided to run 'free' with no hormone suppressing medications. "Don't trade your authenticity for approval", she wrote in a Twitter post to any of her followers and admirers who might find themselves in a situation similar to her own. Having determined she would defy the IAAF, refusing their edict and thus disqualifying herself from future events.

Photo: Caster Semenya has not been beaten over 800 metres in 30 races. (AP Photo: Lee Jin-man)

Labels: Caster Semenya, IAAF, Sport, Testosterone, Women

posted by Pieface @ Saturday, May 04, 2019