IAAF won’t budge on ‘Caster’ rule

IMPASSE: ASA TO GO TO SPORT ARBITRATION COURT

Wesley Bo

Bon

oth sides have stood their ground following an apparently futile meeting between Athletics South Africa (ASA) and the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) to discuss international rule changes which affect star South African athlete, Caster Semenya.

While ASA confirmed earlier this month it would take the matter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, claiming the IAAF’s new gender classification regulations were discriminatory, the international body insisted it would proceed with the implementation of the approved rules in November.

“We would have preferred more consultation in the development of these regulations,” ASA president Aleck Skhosana said yesterday, a day after meeting with ASA president Sebastian Coe.

“We will support our athletes on the grounds that the regulations discriminate against certain female athletes on the basis of natural physical characteristics and/or sex.”

The rules, to be applied to athletes competing over distances between 400m and 1.609km, mean women with hyperandrogenism must reduce their natural testosterone levels in order to participate internationally against female opponents. Alternatively, they would be expected to compete in a separate category for DSD (difference of sexual development) athletes.

In its appeal, ASA contended there was “insufficient scientific evidence” to support the IAAF’s decision and it called for the implementation of the regulations to be suspended pending the outcome of the legal process.

Semenya competes over the entire range of distances affected, but Coe said the IAAF was not targeting any individual.

“We need a fair solution for intersex/DSD athletes in the female category which the new regulations set out to do, based on the evidence the IAAF has about the degree of performance benefit such intersex/DSD athletes get,” he said.