Caster Semenya drops lawsuit after 7 years over rules banning her from competing

Caster Semenya has said enough is enough. She will no longer continue the seven-year legal battle she began in 2018, when the then IAAF, now World Athletics, banned her from competing in the 800 meters (an event in which she won two Olympic gold medals and three world championships) due to high testosterone levels.

Semenya is satisfied with the Strasbourg decision

Semenya considered the final decision of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg to be sufficient, which had established that the South African had not received a fair trial in Switzerland (she had appealed to the CAS, based in Lausanne). This was despite the fact that, also in Strasbourg, other appeals by the champion had been rejected, as she believed her privacy had been violated and she was a victim of discrimination.

The testosterone question

Let us remember that Semenya has always refused to undergo procedures to lower testosterone and for this reason she appealed to the CAS against World Athletics, which established a limit – which she did not fall within – for being able to compete in women's competitions.