Caster Semenya scored a big win against discrimination on Tuesday, but still has a klomp hurdles to clear to reignite her athletics career.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), ruled in favour of the two-time Olympic champion, saying the Court for Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and the Swiss Federal Tribune (SFT) should give her another run at appealing against World Athletics (WA) regulations.
The double Olympic 800m champion has been in a long-running battle with the global athletics body, who have banned her and other athletes with differences in sexual development (DSDs).
According to WA, led by Sebastian Coe, the 32-year-old cannot compete in her preferred event because her natural testosterone levels are higher than other women.
Under the rules, she must take medication or undergo surgery to remove testes.
But the ECHR ruled, by a slender majority of four votes to three, that Semenya’s original appeal against WA had not been properly heard.
In a statement the ECHR says: “The Court found in particular that the applicant had not been afforded sufficient institutional and procedural safeguards in Switzerland to allow her to have her complaints examined effectively.”
WA won’t let their vlag sak, however, saying their rules will stand.
They hit back with a press release, reading: “We remain of the view that the DSD regulations are a necessary,reasonable and proportionate means of protecting fair competition in the female category.”