Two-time Olympic champion runner Caster Semenya has won a partial victory at the European Court of Human Rights in her seven-year legal fight against track and field\u2019s sex eligibility rules.<\/b>
\nTwo-time Olympic champion runner Caster Semenya won a partial victory at the European Court of Human Rights on Thursday in her seven-year legal fight against track and field\u2019s sex eligibility rules.
The court\u2019s 17-judge highest chamber said in a 15-2 vote that Semenya had some of her rights to a fair hearing violated at Switzerland\u2019s Supreme Court, where she had appealed against a ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in favor of track\u2019s World Athletics.
However, on the question of Semenya being discriminated against in Swiss courts, the European court in Strasbourg, France, did not pronounce \u2014 to the frustration of four of the 17 judges in a partial dissent to the majority view.
Her case should now go back to the Swiss federal court in Lausanne. It will be watched closely by other sports which have passed or are reviewing their own rules on eligibility in women\u2019s events.
Semenya later posted on social media a photo of herself in the court chamber with a message a three raised fists symbolizing her fight for justice.
The original case between Semenya and track\u2019s governing body based in Monaco was about whether athletes like her \u2014 who have specific medical conditions, a typical male chromosome pattern and naturally high testosterone levels \u2014 should be allowed to compete freely in women\u2019s sports.
Europe\u2019s top human rights court did not take up other aspects of the appeal filed by Semenya, who was in court Thursday to hear the judgment read. It awarded her 80,000 euros ($94,000) from the state of Switzerland \u201cin respect of costs and expenses.\u201d
The European court\u2019s ruling does not overturn the World Athletics rules that effectively ended Semenya\u2019s career running the 800 meters after she won two Olympic and three world titles since emerging on the global stage as a teenager in 2009.
The key legal point in Semenya\u2019s win was that the Swiss Federal Court had not carried out a \u201crigorous judicial review\u201d that was required because Semenya had no choice but to pursue her case through the CAS\u2019s \u201cmandatory and exclusive jurisdiction.\u201d the Strasbourg judges ruled.
Governing bodies of sports oblige athletes and national federations to take their disputes to the sports court in the International Olympic Committee\u2019s home city Lausanne.
\u201cThe court considered, however, that the Federal Supreme Court\u2019s review had fallen short of that requirement,\u201d it said in a statement.
In dismissing other elements of the South African runner\u2019s case, including if she had been discriminated against, the court judged it \u201cdid not fall within Switzerland\u2019s jurisdiction in respect of those complaints.\u201d
World Athletics, led by its president Sebastian Coe, has said its rules maintain fairness because Semenya has an unfair, male-like athletic advantage from her higher testosterone. Semenya argues her testosterone is a genetic gift.
World Athletics and CAS did not immediately respond to the ruling. The IOC declined to comment on a case it is not directly involved in.
Thursday\u2019s win followed a legal victory from the same court two years ago for Semenya.
That judgment which said she had faced discrimination opened a way for the Swiss supreme court to reconsider its decision to dismiss her appeal against the CAS verdict in favor of World Athletics.
At CAS in 2019, three judges ruled 2-1 that discrimination against Semenya was \u201cnecessary, reasonable and proportionate\u201d to maintain fairness in women\u2019s track events.
World Athletics drew up its rules in 2018 forcing Semenya and other female athletes with Differences in Sex Development to suppress their testosterone to be eligible for international women\u2019s events.
Four of the 17 judges filed a partial dissent to the majority opinion, arguing their court should have been able to pronounce on \u201csubstantive conclusions\u201d reached by the CAS that went against Semenya.
World Athletics eligibility rules \u201cspecifically targeted the applicant, since they concerned only the events in which she competed \u2014 indeed, the fact that they amounted to a kind of \u2018lex Semenya\u2019 clearly demonstrates the arbitrariness of those regulations as a whole,\u201d the four judges wrote.
\u201cWe are disappointed that her expectations have not been met,\u201d said the dissenting judges, who included the chamber president, Marko Bo\u0161njak from Slovenia.
Semenya last competed internationally in the 800 in 2019, winning at the Prefontaine Classic meeting on the Diamond League circuit in Eugene, Oregon. It extended her winning streak to more than 30 consecutive races when the rules made her ineligible.
Her winning time then of 1 minute 55.70 seconds was faster than the gold medal-winning time at the 2024 Paris Olympics but not the 1:55.21 run by Athing Mu of the United States at the Tokyo Olympics held in 2021.
Semenya returned to Eugene in 2022 to race in the world championships over 5,000 but did not advance from the heats.
She is now 34 and has moved into coaching. She said recently her ongoing legal fight is about a principle rather than her own running career.
Imray reported from Cape Town, South Africa
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