I read an interesting article in the Guardian where the journalist said that there is no “easy” solution to this case, because someone loses out whichever way the judgement goes. Caster Semenya’s journey has been inspirational for a lot of people and for them, banning her from competing in women’s categories seems like it is removing a fundamental human right, given that she was raised as a woman. But at present, this is the best and fairest way we have of protecting women’s competition – we do have to draw the line somewhere, or we might as well just have everyone compete together (which I strongly disagree with).
Regarding other genetic abnormalities and whether or not they confer an unfair advantage – the problem is, according to the way we separate male and female competitors, having testes and higher testosterone levels is not the same as having bigger feet or being taller, because it is actually part of the criteria used to separate the male and female competitors. Therefore, for fair competition, you would expect no-one in the women’s category to have these, whereas all the men would. Other genetic abnormalities exist within those categories – they don’t define them.
I wasn’t initially sure what I thought on this issue. However, I have read a lot of different information over the past few days and I have finally decided that I think CAS made the right decision, whilst recognising that this is a scenario in which there isn’t perhaps a “good” decision.
