New testosterone rules a minefield, claims Radcliffe

Athletics: Briton backing IAAF’s ruling

Paula Radcliffe supports athletics’ world governing body’s stance over women with elevated levels of testosterone, despite describing the issue as “a complete minefield”.

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has introduced new eligibility regulations for female classification for athletes with Differences of Sexual Development (DSD) for events from 400m to the mile.

“It’s a complete minefield,” Radcliffe, said after speaking at the Sport Resolutions conference in London

“But I do back it. I think it has been made with the IAAF trying to make it fair for the majority.”

Athletes with DSD, like South Africa’s Caster Semenya, have significantly higher testosterone levels than the women they are in competition with.

Semenya is a two-time Olympic 800m champion and three-time world champion.

The regulations, which were agreed in March and come into force on November 1, require any athlete who has DSD to be recognised “at law as either female or intersex” and to reduce their blood testosterone level below five nmol/L (nanomoles per litre) for a continuous period of at least six months.

This level must be maintained for as long as the athlete wishes to remain eligible for competition.

The rule has been criticised in South Africa, where it has been called the ‘Caster Semenya Regulations’, and could yet be challenged in the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Radcliffe, Britain’s marathon worldrecord holder, acknowledges the complexity of the issue and that there are no easy answers.

But she disputes the view of some that there are other issues at play, such as racism.

“There isn’t a fair answer; there’s no solution that is fair to everybody,” Radcliffe said.

“I think what the IAAF has tried to do is to go with where they’ve got the most proof – because they’ve got to prove it in CAS – and to go with the majority.

“Which inevitably means that some people are going to lose out. I get really annoyed when I see these arguments come back that it’s racist or it’s sexist. It’s none of those. It’s just trying to make fairness out of a situation that is pretty much impossible.”

Radcliffe says it is about more than just one athlete.

She added: “To make it about Caster Semenya is completely unfair to her. Why should she be made the poster person for this?

“She isn’t the poster girl for this. She’s just the person winning by the furthest, so people are pointing fingers at her. And that shouldn’t happen either.

“If this was one person we wouldn’t be facing this issue. We’d just let it happen.

“It’s the fact that it’s not and girls on the start line know they’re never going to get a medal in an 800m. That’s the bottom line.

“Nobody is ever saying any of these girls are cheating; they’re not cheating at all. That has to be made really clear.”

“They should never be treated as if they’ve done anything wrong, because they haven’t done anything wrong.”

Getty. Caster Semenya is a two-time Olympic champion.