Caster Semenya has maintained that she will never use hormone suppressors in order for her to be able to compete in her favoured 800m.
The Court of Arbitration in Sport (CAS) decided in 2019, to uphold a rule requiring athletes with certain forms of what they call “disorders of sex development” (DSD) – more commonly called “intersex’ conditions – to lower their testosterone levels in order to still be eligible to compete as women in certain elite races, according to The Conversation.
The case was brought to CAS by Semenya, as she argued discrimination linked to a 2018 decision preventing some women, including herself, from competing in some female events.
Semenya was told that she will need to take hormone lowering agents, or have surgery, is she wished to continue her career in her chosen athletic events.
‘I’m not sick’
But the 30-year-old Olympic champion told The Guardian this week that such medication “takes the soul out of my body”.
“It’s taking the soul out of my body. They want me to take my own system down. I’m not sick. I don’t need drugs. I will never do that,” she was quoted as saying.
The report said it seemed highly unlikely that Semenya will be lining up for the 800m this summer, even if her case was decided favourably.
Appearing in the 5 000m was an option for Semenya, although time was not on her side. She emerged victorious at the South African Track and Field Championships in Pretoria last week, recording 15mins 52sec – 42sec shy of the Olympic-qualifying standard of 15:10.
Picture: Cape Town etc gallery
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