LIZ McColgan, Scotland’s former World and Olympic champion, last night welcomed the decision from the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to dismiss Caster Semenya’s appeal against an IAAF ruling ordering her and other hyper-androgynous athletes to medicate to suppress her naturally-occurring but abnormal testosterone levels if she wants to compete over any distance between 400m and the mile in future.
McColgan, whose daughter EIlish is a potential rival of Semenya’s over 1500m and 5000m, said the decision would “safeguard the future of women’s sport” but said hyper androgynous athletes should compete in a separate category in future, rather than be forced to take drugs to bring their hormone levels into line.
“The right decision has been made – we need to safeguard the future of women’s sport,” tweeted McColgan. “It is not about anyone individual but the fact that women deserve the right to a level playing field. A separate category needed – not enforced drug taking though.”
The right decision has been made we need to safeguard the future of women’s sport it is not about anyone individual but the fact that women deserve the right to a level playing field a separate catagory needed not enforced drug taking though
— liz mccolgan (@Lizmccolgan) May 1, 2019
READ MORE: Caster Semenya loses legal fight with IAAF
The 28-year-old South African, an imperious double Olympic champion over 800m, can now only appeal the matter of the Swiss Federal Court, which rarely overturns CAS rulings. She said she had been unfairly targeted by the athletics authorities and would continue to rise above. Sports scientists estimate that her 1500m time could be up to seven seconds slower in the event that she takes the medication, although in the short term at least the indications are that she move to 5000m, an event in which she was recently named South African champion.
“I know the IAAF’s regulations have always targeted me specifically,” read a statement from Semenya. “For a decade the IAAF has tried to slow me down but this has actually made me stronger. The decision of CAS will not hold me back. I will once again rise above and continue to inspire young women and athletes in South Africa and around the world.”
A long running controversy in the athletics world, the verdict has ramifications for many Scottish middle-distance runners. Not least of these Lynsey Sharp, whose determination to find out more about the subject was such that she wrote her university dissertation on the subject. When Semenya led home her fellow hyper-androgynous athletes Francine Niyonsaba of Burundi and Margaret Wambui of Kenya in a 1-2-3 in the 2016 Rio Olympic final, Sharp – finishing sixth – staged a show of unity with the other non-hyper androgynous athletes who finished above her.
“We know how each other feels,” said Sharp. “It is out of our control and you see how much we rely on people at the top sorting it out. The public can see how difficult it is with the change of rule but all we can do is give it our best.”
READ MORE: Stuart Bannigan says Partick Thistle players now know who they can trust after dressing room leak
Opening up fault lines into race, gender and sexual politics – Semenya is gay - the issue has become a lightning rod for controversy. Sharp, widely attacked for those comments, merely said back in February that she was simply relieved that a decision would finally be made one way or another. The likes of Martina Navratilova and Billy-Jean King last night criticised the CAS ruling.
Laura Muir is another woman who has been deprived of a place on a global podium by Semenya, pipped into fourth at the London World Championships in 2017. While her coach Andy Young declined to comment yesterday, Muir said recently that she would race whoever is on the start line.
“I think it’s a very difficult situation,” she said. “And I don’t know that there’s really a right or wrong answer. All I can as an athlete is focus on myself – whoever is on the start line, I’ll race against. If she’s there, that ‘s fine, I’m more than happy to race against her. She’s a lovely person. I’ve raced against her quite a lot in the past and that is all you can do. You have to leave it up to the governing bodies as to what happens.”
The very definition of a contentious decision, then, and one which even the three judges at CAS were split upon, finally ruling in the favour of the IAAF by two to one. Ostensibly a big victory for the sport’s governing body, the CAS judges nonetheless had words of warning. They pointed out potential difficulties in ensuring that the rules over hyper-androgynous or athletes with differences in sexual development (DSDs) are implemented fairly and across the board.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel