“Justice has spoken but this is only the beginning”, reacted the South African athlete Caster Semenya on Wednesday the day after the decision in his favor of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which considered a victim of discrimination. Semenya, 32, had seized the ECHR after the Swiss justice had confirmed in 2020 a decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) validating a regulation of the International Athletics Federation (World Athletics), which deprives her of certain races because that she refuses treatment to lower her testosterone levels.
In a decision rendered with a narrow majority of four judges against three, the ECHR ruled on Tuesday that Switzerland had notably violated article 14 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights, relating to the prohibition of discrimination. , taken in conjunction with Article 8, which protects the right to respect for private life. Semenya, who has a natural excess of male sex hormones and has been wrestling with the International Athletics Federation for more than ten years, called the decision “significant” because “it calls into question the future of all similar rules. My hope is that World Athletics, and beyond all sports organizations, will take into account the decision of the ECHR and will ensure that the dignity and human rights of athletes are respected, “continued the double Olympic champion in the 800m. in a press release.
The judgment of the ECHR does not, however, invalidate the regulations of the International Athletics Federation and does not directly open the way to the reinstatement of Semenya on 800m, his favorite race, without hormonal treatment. World Athletics even tightened its rules in March concerning hyperandrogenic athletes, like Semenya, who must now maintain their testosterone levels below the threshold of 2.5 nanomoles per liter for 24 months (instead of 5 nanomoles for six months) to compete in the women’s category, regardless of distance. “Given the dissenting opinions in this decision, we will encourage the Swiss authorities to turn to the Grand Chamber” of the ECHR, its supreme formation which officiates as a court of appeal and renders final decisions, had indicated on Tuesday World Athletics, insisting on the divergent opinions among the judges of the ECHR responsible for this file.
