Caster Semenya wins discrimination appeal at ECHR but World Athletics say DSD regulations remain

European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has found that double Olympic 800m champion Caster Semenya was discriminated against by rules which forced her to lower her testosterone levels in order to continue competing.

The 32-year-old South African born with differences of sexual development (DSD) is not allowed to compete in events between 400m and a mile without taking testosterone-reducing drugs.

ECHR ruled in favour of Semenya in a case involving testosterone levels in female athletes.

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Semenya, a three-time 800m world champion and 800m and 1500m Commonwealth champion, has been in a long-running dispute with World Athletics since regulations requiring her to have hormone treatment were introduced in 2018.

She has twice failed in legal battles to overturn the decision.

The case at the ECHR was against the government of Switzerland for not protecting Semenya's rights and dates back to a Swiss Supreme Court ruling three years ago.

In the lengthy judgement published on Tuesday 11 July, the ECHR found the Swiss government did not protect Semenya from being discriminated against when its Supreme Court refused to overturn a decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) which upheld World Athletics rules governing the participation of athletes with DSD.

The decision, made by a panel of seven people at the ECHR, was split 4-3 in favour of Semenya.

World Athletics in a statement, following the ruling, maintained that the DSD regulations were necessary.

“World Athletics notes the judgment of the deeply divided Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). We remain of the view that the DSD 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, after a detailed and expert assessment of the evidence.

The case was filed against the state of Switzerland, rather than World Athletics. We will liaise with the Swiss government on the next steps and, given the strong dissenting views in the decision, we will be encouraging them to seek referral of the case to the ECHR Grand Chamber for a final and definitive decision.

In the meantime, the current DSD regulations, approved by World Athletics Council in March 2023, will remain in place,” the statement reads.

Announcing the judgement, the ECHR statement read, "The court found in particular that the applicant had not been afforded sufficient institutional and procedural safeguards in Switzerland to allow her to have her complaints examined effectively, especially since her complaints concerned substantiated and credible claims of discrimination as a result of her increased testosterone level caused by differences of sex development."

Semenya argued that taking testosterone-reducing medication could endanger her health and that the ruling denied her and other athletes with DSD the right to rely on their natural abilities.

Additional reporting by BBC