Human rights court rules Olympic champion Semenya did not get fair hearing

South African runner Caster Semenya wins partial victory in appeal against ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Two-time Olympic champion runner Caster Semenya has won a partial victory at the European Court of Human Rights in her seven-year legal fight against track and field’s sex eligibility rules.

The court’s 17-judge highest chamber said in a 15-2 ruling on Thursday that Semenya had some of her rights to a fair hearing violated before Switzerland’s Supreme Court, where she had appealed against a decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). It had ruled in favour of track’s international governing body, World Athletics.

Her case should now go back to the Swiss federal court in Lausanne – and will be watched closely by other sports that have passed or are reviewing their own rules on eligibility in women’s events.

The original case between Semenya and Monaco-based World Athletics was about whether female athletes who have specific medical conditions, a typically male chromosome pattern and naturally high testosterone levels should be allowed to compete freely in women’s sports.

Europe’s top human rights court in Strasbourg, France, dismissed other aspects of the appeal filed by Semenya, who was in court Thursday to hear the judgement read. It awarded her $94,000 from the state of Switzerland “in respect of costs and expenses”.

The European court’s ruling does not overturn the World Athletics rules that in effect ended Semenya’s career running the 800 metres after she had won two Olympic gold medals and three world titles since emerging on the global stage as a teenager in 2009.

The key legal point in Semenya’s win was the Swiss Federal Court had not carried out a “rigorous judicial review” that was required because Semenya had no choice but to pursue her case through the CAS’s “mandatory and exclusive jurisdiction”, the judges in Strasbourg ruled.

Governing bodies of sports oblige athletes and national federations to take their disputes to the sports court in the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC’s) home city of Lausanne.

“The court considered, however, that the Federal Supreme Court’s review had fallen short of that requirement,” the European Court of Human Rights said in a statement.

Semenya last competed in the world championships in 2022 [File: Michael Kappeler/picture alliance via Getty Images]

In dismissing other elements of the South African runner’s case, including if she had been discriminated against, the court judged it “did not fall within Switzerland’s jurisdiction in respect of those complaints”.

World Athletics, led by its president, Sebastian Coe, has said its rules maintain fairness because Semenya has an unfair, male-like athletic advantage from her higher testosterone. Semenya argues her testosterone is a genetic gift.

World Athletics and the CAS did not immediately respond to the ruling. The IOC declined to comment on a case it is not directly involved in.

Thursday’s win followed a legal victory from the same court two years ago for Semenya.

That judgement, which found she had faced discrimination, opened a way for the Swiss Supreme Court to reconsider its decision to dismiss her appeal against the CAS verdict in favour of World Athletics.

The CAS in 2019 ruled 2-1 that discrimination against Semenya was “necessary, reasonable and proportionate” to maintain fairness in women’s track events.

World Athletics drew up its rules in 2018, forcing Semenya and other female athletes with differences in sex development to suppress their testosterone to be eligible for international women’s events.

Semenya last competed internationally in the 800 in 2019, winning at the Prefontaine Classic on the Diamond League circuit in Eugene, Oregon. It extended her winning streak to more than 30 consecutive races before the rules made her ineligible.

Her winning time then of 1 minute 55.7 seconds was faster than the gold medal-winning time at the 2024 Paris Olympics but not the 1:55.21 run by Athing Mu of the United States at the Tokyo Olympics held in 2021.

Semenya returned to Eugene in 2022 to race in the 5,000-metre world championship but did not advance from the heats.

She is now 34 and has moved into coaching. She said recently that her ongoing legal fight is about a principle rather than her own running career.

Source:

Al Jazeera and news agencies