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For Caster Semenya, the new Olympic rules are not about providing clarity and protecting women’s sport, but giving in to political and discriminatory pressure.
After fighting with athletics leaders over her own gender eligibility, the two-time Olympic champion is gearing up for a new showdown with the International Olympic Committee.
“If we have to say women should stop taking part Olympicso be it,” said the South African in an exclusive interview with Sky News.
“I would encourage athletes to unite in class action… because this doesn’t make sense. This doesn’t save women’s sports.”
South Africans are pushing to challenge the landmark decision to reintroduce sex testing as well as ban transgender women and athletes – like her – with differences in sexual development (DSD) from women’s competition.
“I fight for the dignity of women,” Semenya said. “Those who say, ‘I’m not going to get tested to prove I’m a woman’… I would encourage them to do that to stop this nonsense.”
It’s about more than just sports since Donald Trump sought to stop “female athletes being hit and hit by men.”
IOC President Kirsty Coventry, a former Olympic swimming champion, and many other women in sports are now aligned with the US president.
The athlete from Zimbabwe believes that it is biologically unfair for men to compete in women’s competitions because the physiological advantage of going through male puberty, or the presence of XY chromosomes, can be the difference in determining medals.
“This rule is truly outrageous,” Semenya said. “This is something that he as president should not allow something like that to happen.”
But the IOC says there is at least a 10% advantage in most running and swimming events for men – rising to more than 100% for sports requiring “explosive strength” such as boxing, which creates danger beyond fair competition.
The two-time Olympic champion is gearing up for a new showdown with the IOC. photo: AP
I hand this over to Semenya.
Based on what? he answered. “There is no scientific evidence for what has been said. It is an ideology.”
The full scientific research behind the decision has not been published. The IOC also did not say what had changed in recent years either scientifically or medically.
But isn’t it clear that in combat sports there are safety concerns when a biological woman fights a fighter born male, with higher testosterone levels and greater muscle mass?
“What do you expect in boxing?” The cement answered. “We understand that this is a dangerous sport. We all go in, with all the sporting codes, knowing that there are safety precautions in place.
“There are risks, but you can’t come in and try to gauge someone’s strength based on their appearance because you think they’re intersex or you think they’re transgender.”
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Semenya has been in the spotlight of eligibility rules since her gender was questioned based on her performance after winning gold at the world athletics championships as a 19-year-old in 2009.
Verification tests conducted showed that although she had always identified as female and had female characteristics, Semenya also had a typical male XY chromosome pattern and naturally high levels of testosterone.
After qualifying for the race, Semenya was still able to win Olympic gold in 2012 and 2016.
But he later refused to artificially reduce his hormone levels as required by World Athletics and lost further legal challenges. So the 35 year old player is now a coach.
The obligation to carry out gender verification tests for all female Olympic participants will ensure that participants are not included in the test because they may have masculine characteristics.
“I fight for the dignity of women,” Semenya told Sky News. File image: Reuters
The IOC’s stance has changed since ruling out a return to sex testing in the “bad old days” during Paris 2024 when Thomas Bach was still in charge.
But Semenya said: “There is no respect for women. Once you start asking a woman to be tested to take part in sport, that’s not dignity.”
When the IOC said this policy would apply to all their events, I asked Ms Coventry if that included the Youth Olympics. This means that girls aged 15 years must undergo a sex test.
He said: “We really went a step further, I think, talking to a lot of different athletes, about how the process should be followed and what that would look like, as well as the support networks that would need to be in place.”
For Semenya, this only adds to the safeguarding problem.
“Testing a girl, a child, is dangerous and shameful,” he said.
Will the rules face legal challenges ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics?
While Semenya says she is fighting for women’s dignity, the IOC insists it aims to protect the safety and integrity of women’s sport, but may need to produce more evidence.
