/ 18 February 2019

Semenya’s lawyers slam IAAF for ‘confidentiality breach’

ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe speaks on the NEC and why they didn't discuss the State of Capture report yesterday.
After the release of the names, Semenya’s legal team approached the CAS and asked for permission to release its own list of experts. (Michael Dodge/Getty)

Caster Semenya’s lawyers have lambasted the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) for publicly listing the experts the organisation intends to call in the athlete’s Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) challenge.

The Olympic gold medalist arrived in Lausanne, Switzerland on Monday morning to appeal new testosterone regulations put in place last year.

Earlier on Monday, the IAAF published on its website the names of those who it hopes will justify the need for the new rules in female competition.

“The arbitration proceedings are subject to strict confidentiality provisions and this information should not have been released,” Semenya’s lawyers said in a statement. “Ms Semenya believes the IAAF press release is a clear breach of the confidentiality provisions that was orchestrated in an effort to influence public opinion in circumstances where the IAAF knew that Ms Semenya would not be prepared to respond because she was complying with her confidentiality obligations.”

After the release of the names, Semenya’s legal team approached the CAS and asked for permission to release its own list of experts. The court agreed and the list will be published on Tuesday.

“She is grateful to the CAS for opportunity to present her case and for granting her permission to disclose her list of experts publicly in response to the IAAF,” the statement continued. “Going forward the CAS has reiterated that the arbitration proceedings are confidential and information about the case should not be disclosed publicly.”

The experts that the IAAF intends to call are:

Dr Angelica Lindén Hirschberg – a Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Department of Women´s and Children´s Health, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, with special focus on Reproductive Endocrinology.

David Handelsman – Professor of Reproductive Endocrinology and Andrology, University of Sydney, inaugural Director of the ANZAC Research Institute and head of Andrology Department, Concord Hospital, Sydney, Australia.

Joanna Harper – has worked as a medical physicist for more than 30 years and is also a long time athletics competitor.

Doriane Lambelet Coleman – a Professor of Law at Duke Law School. She specialises in teaching and scholarship related to culture, women, children, medicine, and law.

Richard Auchus, MD, PhD – a former Professor of Pharmacology and Internal Medicine in the Division of Metabolism, Endocrinology, and Diabetes and Director of the Endocrinology Fellowship Program at the Medical School of the University of Michigan.