CASTER'S VICTORY A WIN FOR ALL ATHLETES

Semenya's landmark ECHR ruling signals a new dawn for athletes' rights

- MANDILAKHE TSHWETE

TWO-TIME Olympic gold medalist Caster Semenya believes her landmark victory at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) will pave the way for all athletes' human rights to be protected.

"I have waited 15 long years for this judgment. Today, my patience in this journey has been rewarded with a result that will pave the way for all athletes' human rights to be protected. I have given up what I wanted in the hope that others may have what they need. I hope this victory will inspire young women to be and accept themselves in all their diversity."

The ECHR found that Semenya was denied a fair trial by Switzerland's legal system, marking a significant milestone in her ongoing legal battle against regulations requiring athletes with differences of sex development (DSD) to medically alter their natural hormone levels to compete.

In a Grand Chamber judgment yesterday, the court ruled by 15 votes to two that the Swiss Federal Supreme Court failed to conduct a sufficiently rigorous review of Semenya’s appeal against the 2019 decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which had upheld World Athletics’ so-called “DSD Regulations”. These rules compel female athletes with naturally high testosterone levels to undergo hormone suppression therapy to compete in certain events.