Semenya Wins; IAAF President Defends Rule

(ATR) South Africa’s Caster Semenya keeps on winning on the track, but her future as a dominant figure in women’s athletics appears to be in jeopardy.

On Friday Semenya easily won yet another race - this time in 1500m at the Diamond League in Doha.

A few hours earlier, however, IAAF president Sebastian Coe defended the new hyperandrogenism rule that could prevent Semenya precisely from competing in 800m and 1500m races by the end of the year.

"The regulations are very clear and are the culmination of 15 years of work, scientifically reviewed, " Coe said to Around the Rings" I think there’s a mistaken view that this is just one particular piece of work that is being showcased."

Semenya, double Olympic Champion and triple World Champion in the 800 meters, competes with high levels of naturally occurring testosterone in her body. Some female rival competitors had complained that the South African hyperandrogenism gives her an unfair advantage on the track. With higher than usual levels of testosterone, Semenya is prone to have more muscle mass, strength and hemoglobin, which benefits her endurance

Now under the new IAAf rules Semenya will either have to take prescribed medication to reduce her testosterone in order to compete at her events or move to longer distance running starting at 3,000 meters.

The testosterone level permitted for the female middle distance runners is below five (5) nmol/L. Coe maintains to ATR that this new rule is fair.

"That particular case [Semenya’s] is in response to a very specific question that we were asked about performance enhancement in testosterone. I think 15 years of work across this is enough to give the council enough comfort that these regulations are appropriate"

The IAAF’s previous attempts to regulate the issue clashed with a Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling in 2015 following an appeal on behalf of Indian athlete Dutee Chand, who had been banned from competing also because of her testosterone levels.

Semenya, who also recently won the 800 meters and 1500 meters at the Commonwealth Games in April, responded recently to IAAF on Twitter, saying "I am 97 per cent sure you don’t like me but I’m 100 per cent sure I don’t care."

Coe has always made clear that nobody was suggesting Semenya had done anything wrong. For the Athletics president,IAAF wants "athletes to be incentivized to make the huge commitment and sacrifice required to excel in the sport, and to inspire new generations to join the sport and aspire to the same excellence".

The new rule against Semenya has provoked different reactions

Athletics South Africa says it will seek the help of its government while it "has taken note of the new classification for females. As a federation, we will study the new regulations and compare them with the CAS recommendations to see if they are compatible and in line."

The Canadian Athletics federation has also been skeptical of the new rule.

"We believe this IAAF eligibility ruling requires rigorous review," it said in a statement. "We encourage the full access for all Canadians to participate and compete in athletics, at every level of our sport free of discrimination.

"Athletics Canada believes in the principles of inclusion, respect and health and safety". The Canadiens have stated that they will review the eligibility rule in detail.

However the female athletes consulted by ATR ahead of the Diamond League in Doha have stayed away from any controversy.

Holland’s Dafne Schippers, Olympic silver medalist in the 200 meters in Rio, has said to ATR " I don’t know enough about the rule to express an opinion".

Likewise, USA’s Jenny Simpson, bronze in the 1500m in Rio, claimed she is not familiar with the new law. However she said that "IAAF and other federations should come down with clear guidelines so athletes don’t get caught in the middle".

Greece’s Katerina Stefanidi said to ATR that she has a definite opinion on the Semenya case, but she prefers to keep in to herself, although she questions why the testosterone test is not conducted also in her event, the pole vault.

These new rule on hyperandrogenism will come into effect from Nov. 1 2018.

Written by Javier Monnein Doha

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