Sports

‘I am a woman and I am fast’: Caster Semenya to challenge IAAF ‘female classification’ rule

Related Story: IAAF confirms rule changes which may end Semenya's middle distance career Related Story: IAAF female classification rules slammed as 'blatantly racist'

South African middle-distance runner Caster Semenya will challenge a female classification rule imposed by the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) at sport's highest court, according to her lawyers.

The double Olympic and triple world 800 metres champion faces having to take medication to lower her higher than normal levels of naturally-produced testosterone, which the sport's governing IAAF has deemed gives her an unfair advantage.

Law firm Norton Rose Fulbright said in a statement that the legal challenge would be filed on Monday at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne.

"Ms Semenya, like all athletes, is entitled to compete the way she was born without being obliged to alter her body by any medical means," Norton Rose Fulbright said.

The IAAF said its decision was based on peer-reviewed studies and close observation by scientists which showed that females with above-normal or male equivalent levels of testosterone had up to a 12 per cent performance advantage over fellow female athletes.

"These advantages (which translate, in athletics, to an average 10-12 per cent performance difference across all disciplines) make competition between men and women as meaningless and unfair as an adult competing against a child," the IAAF said in an e-mailed statement.

The athletics body added that it was ready to defend the new regulations at CAS if asked to do so.

Caster Semenya holds the South African flag behind her, with arms stretched out.

Controversy has never been far from Semenya, now 27, since her teenage success in the 800 metres at the 2009 world championships in Berlin, where the pure power of her surge to victory sparked question marks about her sexuality.

Testosterone is a hormone that increases muscle mass, strength and haemoglobin, which affects endurance.

The IAAF rule, which comes into force on November 1, is not directly aimed at Semenya but she will be most affected by it.

South African media and politicians have rallied to her defence and called the IAAF actions a "witch hunt."

"I just want to run naturally, the way I was born. It is not fair that I am told I must change.

"It is not fair that people question who I am. I am Mokgadi Caster Semenya. I am a woman and I am fast," Semenya was quoted as saying in the Norton Rose Fulbright statement.

Reuters

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