LThe test was introduced in the 1930s to rule out “abnormal female athletes”.
In the 1960s, when women began to object to the “naked parades” imposed by the test, the official response was not to abolish it, but rather to replace the practice with hormonal analysis.
Feminists, athletes, geneticists, ethicists and national governments protested, but it wasn’t until the 1990s that the International Amateur Athletics Federation (now known as World Athletics) and the Committee international Olympic terminate the test.
The small print
This decision was however short-lived. In the fine print of these decisions, the governing bodies reserved the right to resume testing of women deemed “suspect”.
Following the triumph of South African middle distance runner Caster Semenya at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, World Athletics and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) instituted a “hyperandrogenism” test that sets the amount of natural testosterone a woman can have to stay qualified.
In 2014, Indian sprinter Dutee Chand was singled out for this test and suspended as she was finalizing her preparation for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. With the help of academics Payoshni Mitra and Katrina Karkazis, the Sport Authority of India and Toronto lawyers Jim Bunting and Carlos Sayao, Dutee Chand appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), sometimes referred to as the Supreme Court for International Sport . She won.
CAS overturned Chand’s suspension and the policy itself, claiming that the scientific evidence presented by the athletic body was not convincing. The IOC canceled the test and Chand and Semenya both competed in the Rio Olympics. In 2016, Semenya triumphed again in the 800 meters event.
Short term protection
However, the optimism that the CAS would prove to be an effective protector of women’s rights was short-lived. In 2018, World Athletics imposed a revised threshold of five nanomoles of natural testosterone for the five events in which Semenya races – ranging from 400 meters to 1.6 km – and quickly suspended her. She too appealed to the CAS, citing the grounds that her fundamental rights as a woman had been violated.
Semenya presented ample evidence demonstrating that the test caused many other women to quit the sport, robbed them of their livelihoods, exposed them to ridicule and harassment, and in some extreme cases, forced them to undergo physical abuse. unnecessary and irreversible medical intervention, including surgery. Most of the athletes concerned were from southern countries.
She was unsuccessful. While the CAS acknowledged that the new regulations were discriminatory, it said human rights were outside its mandate.
Semenya has since appealed to the European Court of Human Rights, but no ruling has been announced.
World Athletics’ decision means Semenya can compete in the 5,000 meter event without having to undergo treatment to lower her natural testosterone. Despite being the current South African 5,000-meter champion, she has not been able to meet the Olympic qualifying standard. This means that she will not participate in the Tokyo Games.
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