As long as sports bodies can force dangerous procedures on people, the fight is not over
As Caster Semenya’s lawyers, we are reviewing our options after Swiss ruling amid great support
On Tuesday afternoon the highest court in Switzerland, the Federal Supreme Court — the highest legal authority over World Athletics (formerly the IAAF) — delivered the judgment we’ve spent a year worrying about and waiting for. This latest ruling prevents Caster Semenya from defending her 800m gold medal title at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, unless she lowers her testosterone levels.
Five European judges in Lausanne failed to set aside the discriminatory regulations that have created a dangerous precedent in sport for international athletes with “differences of sex development” (DSD), such as Semenya. The regulations, which require women athletes to chemically or surgically lower their testosterone levels, has created a moral and ethical dilemma that harms the human dignity of certain members of society. So much so that the World Medical Association (WMA) has called on physicians around the world to take no part in implementing the World Athletics regulations...
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