Semenya and global sport await CAS verdict

The Court of Arbitration for Sport will announce its decision in the testosterone-limit case between Caster Semenya and athletics’ governing body, the IAAF, today, with some suggesting the future of women’s sport is at stake.

The matter at hand for sport’s highest court is an appeal from the two-time Olympic800metreschampion, supported by Athletics South Africa, against the IAAF’S introduction of controversial eligibility rules for female athletes with naturally-occurring high levels of testosterone, the so-called male sex hormone.

But the issues go far wider than one athlete’s battle against one sport’s federation, as a win for Semenya could see all sports having to completely rethink who is allowed to compete in female events, or even if female-only events are relevant anymore.

The 28-year-old South African, who has one of the various genetic conditions collectively known as differences or disorders of sex development, has been the subject of intense scrutiny since she burst on to the scene at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, where she won the first of her three world titles.

Semenya achieved that feat despite the emotional strain caused by media speculation about a gender verification test following complaints from rivals about her muscular build.

Semenya and her supporters believe sport has no right to single out blameless athletes for having high testosterone levels when elite sport is full of people with unusual physical attributes, while some critics of the IAAF’S approach say it has simply miscalculated the importance of testosterone.

On the flipside, the likes of IAAF president Lord Coe, women’s marathon world record-holder Paula Radcliffe and tennis great Martina Navratilova have warned that defeat at CAS will leave women with normal levels of testosterone simply unable to compete against DSD athletes and open the floodgates for male-to-female transgender athletes.