This week’s ruling, by the European Court of Human Rights in favour of Caster Semenya, was a victory not only for the South African superstar, but, in many ways, for the next generation of athletes.
Semenya summed it up nicely in her reaction to the ruling when she said: “Justice has spoken, but this was only the beginning.”
A lot has been at play in her protracted legal battle with World Athletics. And it has clearly not been about the global governing body’s nonsensical rules on athletes with naturally high testosterone levels, but a serious violation of Semenya’s privacy and right to compete.
READ: BREAKING I Caster Semenya wins case against World Athletics' testosterone rules at European Court
The order, which was implemented in 2018 and revised this year to exclude Semenya from all athletics events, effectively means a loss of income for our champion runner.
The general feeling around the world has been that this case is a human rights issue and the Human Rights Court’s ruling confirmed this.
Four years ago, the UN called for governments to make sure that sports organisations “refrain from developing and enforcing policies and practices that force, coerce or otherwise pressure woman and girl athletes into undergoing unnecessary, humiliating and harmful medical procedures”.
The World Medical Association, which represents doctors from 114 national member bodies, also said there was “weak evidence” that the regulations were necessary. It recommended that they be scrapped.
READ: Caster Semenya is not allowed to run just yet, despite victory at Court of Human Rights
Clearly, World Athletics officials have elected to ignore these calls as they have gone further to enforce Semenya’s 800m to 1 500m ban and also updated the rules to bar her from every event.
Essentially, the whole debacle means it’s all but over for Semenya. At 32, her hopes to return to the track any time soon have been dashed. Semenya has already indicated that this fight is not about her, but she is fighting for the next generation, to make sure they don’t suffer the same fate.