Champion runner Caster Semenya won a potentially landmark legal victory

Champion runner Caster Semenya won a potentially landmark legal victory on Tuesday when the European Court of Human Rights decided she was discriminated against by sports rules that force her to medically reduce her natural hormone levels to compete in major competitions.The ruling by the Strasbourg, France-based court questioned the u201cvalidityu201d of the contentious international athletics regulations in that they infringed Semenyau2019s human rights.But the two-time Olympic championu2019s first legal success after two failed appeals in sportsu2019 highest court and the Swiss supreme court came with a major caveat.
Source:- indianexpressAmid her bid to be allowed to run again without restriction and go for another gold at next yearu2019s Olympics in Paris, Tuesdayu2019s judgment, while major, did not immediately result in the rules being dropped.That might still take years.The South African athleteu2019s challenge against the testosterone rules began in 2018.It has gone from the Switzerland-based Court of Arbitration for Sport to the Swiss supreme court and now the European rights court. The 4-3 ruling in Semenyau2019s favor by a panel of human rights judges merely opened the way for the Swiss supreme court to reconsider its decision.That might result in the case going back to CAS in Lausanne. And only then might the highly controversial rules enforced by World Athletics be possibly removed.The 32-year-old Semenya, who has been barred by the rules from running in her favorite 800-meter race since 2019 and has lost four years of her career at her peak, has only 13 months until Paris.In a statement soon after the European rights courtu2019s decision was published, World Athletics showed no sign of budging and said its rules would u201cremain in place.u201d u201cWe remain of the view that the u2026 regulations are a necessary, reasonable and proportionate means of protecting fair competition in the female category as the Court of Arbitration for Sport and Swiss Federal Tribunal both found,u201d World Athletics said.World Athletics also said it would be u201cencouragingu201d the government of Switzerland to appeal the ruling. Switzerland was the respondent in the case because Semenya was challenging her last legal loss in the Swiss supreme court. Switzerlandu2019s government has three months to appeal.The Swiss government was also ordered to pay Semenya 60,000 euros ($66,000) for costs and expenses.There was no immediate reaction from Semenya or her lawyers in South Africa.While Semenya has been at the center of the highly emotive issue of sex eligibility in sports and is the issueu2019s figurehead in challenging the rules, she is not the only athlete affected. At least three other Olympic medalists have also been impacted by the rules that set limits on the level of natural testosterone female athletes may have if they want to compete. World Athletics says there are u201ca numberu201d of other elite athletes who fall under the regulations.
There are no testosterone limits in place for male athletes.Semenyau2019s case is not the same as the debate over transgender women who have transitioned from male to female being allowed to compete in sports, although the two issues do have crossover.Share your views in the comments