Mail & Guardian
Mail & Guardian

Caster Semenya Gender Row

latest news & developments
TOKYO, JAPAN – AUGUST 03: Beatrice Masilingi of Team Namibia celebrates with her teammate and silver medal winner Christine Mboma after the Women’s 200m Final on day eleven of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Olympic Stadium on August 03, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
BEATRICE MASILINGI

Olympics: Namibia’s sprinters highlight a flawed testosterone testing system

Dr Nana Adom-Aboagye from the Centre for Sport Leadership at Maties Sport (Stellenbosch University) researches African women and gender equity in sport. We asked her what issues…

  • Nana Adom-Aboagye
6 min read
Speaking at a women’s empowerment conference on Wednesday, Caster Semenya said the obsession with getting rid of her was driven by the fact that she is undisputedly the best in the world. (Reuters/Siphiwe Sibeko)
CASTER SEMENYA

‘I’m targeted because I’m undefeated’ — Caster

The 28 year-old has been embroiled in a bitter legal battle with the IAAF over rules that force female athletes to regulate their testosterone levels

  • Michelle Gumede
2 min read
Caster Semenya may well have run out of legal options after latest loss in Swiss tribunal (Michael Dodge/Getty Images)
2016 OLYMPICS

What we talk about when we talk about Caster Semenya

Semenya’s fight tells us much about how the world sees black women, especially as they compete for gold.

  • Lindokuhle Nkosi
10 min read
South African runner Caster Semenya. (Michael Dodge/Getty Images)
CASTER SEMENYA

Caster to appeal CAS ruling

The Olympic gold medallist will appeal the ruling which is set to bar her from participating without artificially reducing her testosterone levels

  • Aaisha Dadi Patel
2 min read
Semenya won the 800m at the Diamond League meet in Doho, Qatar – the last major international event she would have been eligible under current circumstances. (Francois Nel/Getty Images)
ASA

Athletics SA appeal Semenya judgment

The next chapter in the prolonged battle to secure the professional future of Caster Semenya is about to be written

  • Luke Feltham
2 min read
Indomitable: Caster Semenya has various options to consider. (Cameron Spencer/ Getty Images)
CASTER SEMENYA

Semenya verdict ‘beyond absurd’

The rejection of her appeal flirts with scientific facts, leaving room for ambiguity

  • Luke Feltham
6 min read
Double Olympic champion Caster Semenya. (Reuters)
AGENCY

Caster’s fate to be announced by sports body on Wednesday

IAAF to rule whether naturally occurring higher testosterone of Olympic champion is legal

  • Agency
1 min read
Caster Semenya (C)is in Switzerland this week to appeal new testosterone regulations that the IAAF attempted to put in place in April last year. (Getty)
CASTER SEMENYA

Meet the experts who will determine Semenya’s fate

We take a look at some of the experts who will be called up in Caster Semenya’s case at the Court of Arbitration for Sport

  • Luke Feltham
  • Mashadi Kekana
7 min read
Caster Semenya may well have run out of legal options after latest loss in Swiss tribunal (Michael Dodge/Getty Images)
CASTER SEMENYA

Semenya’s lawyers slam IAAF for ‘confidentiality breach’

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

  • Luke Feltham
2 min read
Double Olympic champion Caster Semenya. (Reuters)
2020 OLYMPICS

Caster Semenya case kicks off

Semenya is fighting regulations that would require her to lower her testosterone levels artificially

  • Luke Feltham
2 min read
It’s a potentially devastating verdict for the double Olympic gold medal athlete who will now have to artificially reduce her testosterone levels should she wish to continue competing in her favoured events. (Reuters()
AGENCY

Navaratilova backs Semenya ahead of IAAF gender rule hearing

The tennis great has come to the defence of champion Caster Semenya ahead of next week’s landmark hearing

  • Agency
1 min read
It’s a potentially devastating verdict for the double Olympic gold medal athlete who will now have to artificially reduce her testosterone levels should she wish to continue competing in her favoured events. (Reuters()
AGENCY

IAAF ‘expects’ CAS to reject Caster’s appeal case

If Semenya’s appeal is dismissed, she would be ineligible for the entire circuit of top-tier Diamond League meetings, which run from May to September

  • Agency
2 min read
Semenya, who has dominated the 800m race over the last decade, has remained largely silent through the court battle, excluding statements from her legal team condemning the IAAF’s tactics and policies. (AFP)
CASTER SEMENYA

Caster Semenya’s body is being claimed by self-important armchair pundits

‘Her body, seen as an anomaly, is no longer hers. It “belongs” to sports bodies, media houses and quick-on-the-draw armchair pundits … ‘

  • Carl Collison
4 min read
“When it comes to situations like this, we athletes sometimes get to be scared of the challenge, because we think about what we’ve got to lose. Then we forget there’s a future,” said Caster Semenya. (AFP)
CASTER SEMENYA

#HandsOffCaster: South Africans spring to defence of the athletic superstar

The athlete is just days away from competing in the Rio Olympic Games’ 800m event and the controversy surrounding her continues to rumble.

  • Ofentse Mboweni
1 min read
ASA

ASA mentor fights Semenya fallout

A doyenne of South African athletics is caught up in a David and Goliath battle over the ASA’s 2009 Caster Semenya debacle.

  • Fatima Asmal
7 min read