Double Olympic champion Caster Semenya wants to fight. Not a physical one but a battle against the newly introduced law of gender testing kept for the female category at the Olympics. The policy was set up by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) last week. This rule will now be made mandatory for competitors in female elite sports events.
Semenya was previously involved in a legal case concerning her right to compete on the track against World Athletics. That time she was having a Difference of Sexual Development (DSD). It is a rare condition involving genes, hormones, and reproductive organs. People with DSDs are brought up as female but have XY sex chromosomes along with the blood testosterone levels in the male range.
The Olympian has now come to voice out on the case against gender testing. On Monday, March 20, during an interview with Reuters from Pretoria, Semenya had expressed her concerns on the matter in detail.
She said, “We’re going to be vocal about it; we’re going to make noise until we’re heard. Now it’s a matter of women standing for themselves to say, ‘Enough is enough.’ We are not going to be told how to do things. If really we are accepted as women to take part, why does my appearance or my voice, why do my inner parts, need to be a problem to take part in the sport?”
Semenya says that the test will be done for all athletes who are competing in the female class. The test will be conducted by either a cheek swab or saliva analysis. In case any athlete tests positive for the SRY gene, which is on the Y chromosome and leads to any signs of male characteristics further investigation will be conducted.
She believes that the IOC president Kirsty Coventry, who is the first woman and first African to be a part of the committee has failed to get the proper information from people living with DSDs.
“They sent us a letter the day they were going to publish whatever they’re going to publish. If you’re going to consult, consult with a genuine heart. Don’t consult because you’re ticking the box. Unfortunately, they have ticked the wrong box,” she added.
The document released by the IOC policy states that ‘androgen-sensitive XY-DSD athletes’ in the female category in events that rely on strength, power, or endurance runs fundamentally counter to ensuring fairness, safety, and integrity in elite competition.
(Inputs sourced from Sportstar)
