Even when World Athletics wasn’t actively targeting Caster Semenya, they still managed to trip her up.
The governing body this week blindsided all athletes with differences in sex development (DSD) by announcing stiffer gender eligibility regulations that effectively rules them all out of the world championships in Budapest in August.
The Sunday Times understands there had been no prior notification of what was coming.
Semenya had been preparing to reclaim her 5,000m South African crown at the national championships in Potchefstroom on Saturday, but that’s the day the new rules take effect.
Competing in one last 5,000m race — where Semenya had been in exile after being banished from her premier 800m event — would have been a more fitting farewell to one of track’s fiercest fighters.
Instead, the 32-year-old’s career seems set to end quietly, in stark contrast to the explosive and controversial manner it began in 2009.
Winning the world title in Berlin as an unknown 18-year-old unleashed waves of bullying and body-shaming, yet she battled on to eventually win acceptance internationally, even in Monaco, the home turf of World Athletics.
On July 20, 2018 Semenya was given a reception warmer than the balmy night air that hung over Stade Louis II. As the crow flies, the arena is just 3km from the world governing body’s headquarters, but in attitude towards the South African they were light years apart.
World Athletics was in the process of finalising the gender eligibility rules to drive her out, but the fans cheered Semenya on with the gusto they’d shown Beatrice Chepkoech during her 3,000m steeplechase world record run earlier in the evening.
Semenya has been locked in legal battles trying to overturn World Athletics’ rules on DSD athletes, but it’s a fight she didn’t start.
Winning the world title in Berlin as an unknown 18-year-old unleashed waves of bullying and body-shaming, yet she battled on to eventually win acceptance internationally, even in Monaco, the home turf of World Athletics
Initially she agreed to take hormonal treatment to lower her naturally occurring testosterone to 10 nanomoles per litre of blood — as required by the rules at the time — and she still ended up with gold at the 2011 world championships and 2012 London Olympics.
Her form dipped markedly after that, partly because of injury, but she never complained, persevering in the sport.
In 2015 the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) forced the world governing body to suspend its regulations after a challenge by India’s DSD sprinter Dutee Chand.
That allowed Semenya to stop taking the medication and she soared again, winning the 800m gold at the 2016 Olympics and the 2017 world championships. She also took the 1,500m bronze in 2017 and established herself as one of the world’s fastest in the 400m.
World Athletics’ new regulations required DSD athletes wanting to compete in any event from 400m to the mile to lower testosterone to 5 nanomoles per litre of blood, half what Semenya had been permitted on the previous rules. It was hard to believe she wasn’t the target.
Semenya challenged the rules at CAS, but lost. Her appeal to the Swiss federal court also failed and she approached the European Court of Human Rights in early 2021. In spite of her case being listed as a priority, her legal team is still waiting for a date.
In Semenya’s case, the DSD rules worked, knocking her off international podiums. She first tried her hand at the 200m before settling on the 5,000m, where she failed to qualify for Tokyo 2020 and only just squeezed into the 2022 world championship field.
Even at the recent world cross country championships, she was the weakest link of South Africa’s 4x2,000m relay team which ended fourth.
The tightened regulations now include all events, halve the testosterone maximum to 2.5 and require DSD athletes to be compliant for six months before competing, effectively ruling them out of the global showpiece in Hungary.
Semenya wasn’t the target this time. The Namibian sprint duo of Christine Mboma and Beatrice Masilingi had stormed the 400m in 2021 before being forced out ahead of Tokyo. They competed in the 200m instead, with Mboma taking Olympic silver and Masilingi ending sixth.
Even if one agrees with World Athletics’ move to protect the realm of women’s competition, the blitzkrieg suddenness of the latest regulations leaves a bad taste.
Especially for Semenya.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.