Exclusive: Caster Semenya Calls for IOC Consistency Amid Gender Controversy at Paris Olympics
Caster Semenya urges the IOC for consistent policies amid gender controversies at the Paris Olympics. She challenges the current rules affecting athletes with differences in sex development, while reflecting on her transition to coaching and family life.
Image Cedits: PHILL MAGAKOE/AFP via Getty Images
Two-time Olympic gold medallist Caster Semenya has called for the International Olympic Committee to show more consistency and have a uniform policy for competitors who are under gender scrutiny.
Semenya Challenges the IOC
The 33-year-old Caster Semenya, who claimed Olympic gold in the 800m at both the 2012 and 2016 Games, will not be competing in the Paris Olympics. World Athletics has mandated that she take medication to lower her testosterone levels due to her differences in sex development (DSD) condition, a requirement Semenya has refused to comply with.
Semenya refuses to undergo the treatments, which are mandatory in order to compete, and has been locked in legal battles with World Athletics since 2018.
Olympic Controversy in Boxing
The Paris Olympics have been rocked over a gender controversy in boxing, with two competitors, Algeria’s Imane Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, having their eligibility for the women’s tournament being questioned. Both are guaranteed a medal, having advanced to the semi-finals in their respective weight divisions.
In Semenya’s homeland of South Africa, social media has been awash with posts questioning why the boxers are allowed to compete, especially in a combat sport, while Semenya is effectively banned. The IOC has backed the two boxers, casting doubts on the veracity of the International Boxing Association’s gender eligibility tests that found they had XY chromosomes.
The IBA is no longer recognised by the IOC, who are running the boxing events in Paris themselves.
Semenya herself has sympathy for Khelif’s plight, the 25-year-old welterweight having borne the brunt of the storm.
Image Credits: FREDERICK FLORIN/AFP via Getty Images
Semenya Reflects on Leadership and Equality
“Imane is a great boxer and people always criticise when someone is doing well, people always talk then. When she wasn’t winning, then everyone was quiet.”
“But the IOC’s policy and constitution should not contradict each other. Sport is for all people and the constitution says no to discrimination. But the minute they allowed women to be disgraced, it confuses us.”
“If sport is for all, then why does the big governing body allow this sort of thing to happen? They should stand their ground and lead by example. It’s about quality leadership that safeguards, protects, and respects women,” Semenya told SportsBoom.com in an exclusive interview in Pretoria.
“What happened at the Olympics now is not what happened in my space. Each organisation has its own policy, boxing have their own and athletics has its own.”
“It’s not about what I want, but about principles of life. My views are not about me because I have ventured more into coaching now, I stopped running seriously in 2022. I have kids now and I want to spend more time at home.”
Transitioning to Coaching and Family Life
World Athletics, then known as the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), initially restricted their new rules on testosterone levels to just three track events – the 400m, 800m and 1500m.
Semenya initially switched to the 200m and 5000m races, but was never a real contender at those distances, failing to make the Olympic qualifying standards.
Last weekend she ran her first competitive race in more than a year, in the Tshwane (Pretoria) event of the Spar Women’s Grand Prix 10km Series, finishing 10th in 37:13.
A beaming, jovial Semenya clearly enjoyed the experience.
“It was really nice and I did it for all the women, to make sure I inspire and show them that anything is possible. It was to celebrate women in sport and all women.”
“I like to challenge myself; I was feeling outside my comfort zone, and I thought I would end up walking, but I just kept on going.”
“I’m very happy about my run and finishing in the top 10. Maybe when I’m 34 I must run the Comrades Marathon [an annual 88km ultramarathon held in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa],” Semenya laughed.
Ken Borland is a freelance sports journalist and commentator based in Johannesburg, South Africa. His specialities are cricket, rugby, golf and hockey (he’s the winner of an SA Hockey Association Merit Award), but he has occasionally ventured further afield from these main sports!
Although sport is his job and something he loves, he is also passionate about the outdoors, wildlife and birding; conchology; music and collecting charts; movies; and his faith.