CAS suspends IAAF gender policy, Dutee free to run in Worlds
Indian sprinter Dutee Chand’s ‘gender case’ has been temporarily suspended again by the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) due to lack of scientific evidence.
In its July 24 interim report, CAS has suspended the International Association of Athletics Federations’ (IAAF) fresh appeal on hyperandrogenism regulations until the end of September.
During this period, Dutee can compete in both national and international-level competitions. On Friday, the IAAF had invited the Indian sprinter to compete in the August 4-13 World Championships at London. Thanks to her performance of 11.30 sec in May, the world body extended the invite, as the target number of 56 athletes was not reached in the 100m.
The CAS panel also said the case will be closed if the IAAF is unable to provide evidence in the two months. The CAS panel in-charge of the proceeding said, “Based upon the agreement of the parties and at the approval of the panel, the hyperandrogenism regulations have been suspended for an additional two months. During such extended suspension, Dutee Chand remains eligible to compete in both national and internationallevel competitions.”
The IAAF response was that it will discuss the issue with its experts and the International Olympic Committee and decide how best to address the interim ruling by the CAS.
In 2014, Dutee was disqualified by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) as per IAAF’s hyperandrogenism policy after tests revealed testosterone (male hormone) produced naturally by her body was above permissible range. Chand challenged the IAAF policy in CAS.
On July 27, 2015, CAS made an interim decision to suspend the IAAF’s hyperandrogenism policy for two years, to provide them with a chance to submit further evidence to prove the advantage hyperandrogenic female athletes have over normal athletes. Recently, the IAAF decided to pursue the case again after receiving the report of a study commissioned by it. It’s move was opposed by activists from across the world.
But the IAAF yet again failed to provide scientific evidence on the quantitative relation between enhanced testosterone levels and improved performance in athletics with hyperandrogenism.