JOHANNESBURG: South African Olympic champion Caster Semenya will go to court to challenge controversial new rules governing female athletes’ testosterone levels, her lawyers said on Monday.
The new International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) policy will target women who naturally produce unusually high levels of testosterone.Athletes classified as “hyper-androgyous” will have to chemically lower their testosterone levels to 5 nanomoles per litre of blood to be eligible to run any international race of 400 metres up to the mile.
Semenya, a two-time Olympic gold medallist, is expected to bring her case at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne on Monday, her lawyers Norton Rose Fulbright said in a statement.
The IAAF announced its new rules in April, due to be adopted in November, arguing that hyper-androgynous competitors enjoy an unfair advantage.“I just want to run naturally, the way I was born. It is not fair that I am told I must change. It is not fair that people question who I am. I am a woman and I am fast,” Semenya said.
