GENEVA — Caster Semenya’s running future could be decided starting next week. But it will be about much more than her. The landmark case will likely challenge science and gender politics.
The two-time Olympic 800-meter champion seeks to overturn eligibility rules for hyperandrogenic athletes proposed by track and field’s governing body. The IAAF wants to require women with naturally elevated testosterone to lower their levels by medication before being allowed to compete in world-class races from 400 meters to one mile.
“She looks forward to responding to the IAAF at the upcoming hearing,” Semenya’s lawyers in Johannesburg, Norton Rose Fulbright, said Thursday in a statement.