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Articles on Caster Semenya

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Women’s 800-metre silver medal winner Margaret Nyairera Wambui, left, shakes hands with gold medal winner Caster Semenya on the podium at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia. Both runners have refused to take hormone-reducing drugs so they could compete at the Tokyo Olympics. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Sex testing at the Olympics should be abolished once and for all

Mandatory sex testing at the Olympics might have stopped in the 1990s, but the policing of high performance female athletes’ bodies is still ongoing.
The decision by World Rugby to ban trans players from participating in women’s events is another setback for transgender athletes. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

World Rugby’s ban on trans players has nothing to do with so-called ‘fairness’

If “fairness” is why trans players have been banned by World Rugby, then sport bodies need to realize many athletes have an unfair advantage because of issues like class and cultural backgrounds.
Caster Semenya is legally female, was from birth raised as female and identifies as a female. Jon Connell on flickr

Ten ethical flaws in the Caster Semenya decision on intersex in sport

Athlete Caster Semenya will need to take hormone-lowering agents, or have surgery, if she wishes to continue her career in her chosen events. But the decision to ban her is flawed on many grounds.
South Africa’s Caster Semenya in the moments before the women’s 800-meter final during the Diamond League athletics event in Doha, Qatar on May 3. The world champion easily won the race, but her future remains in doubt. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)

The demonization of Caster Semenya continues

The great South African runner Caster Semenya may have competed in her last 800-metre race. She has been demonized for more than a decade, like many other female athletes before her.
South Africa’s runner Caster Semenya, the current 800-meter Olympic gold and world champion, arrives with her lawyer Gregory Nott (right) for hearings at the international Court of Arbitration for Sport. EPA/Laurent Gillieron

Sex and sport: how to create a level playing field

The International Association of Athletics Federations wants athletes who have differences of sexual development to medically reduce their testosterone levels. But this may be in breach of human rights.
In sport, movement is based on physical ability, which is not necessarily linked to sex. EPA

Why it might be time to eradicate sex segregation in sports

One way to get beyond gender barriers in sport would be to scrap sex segregation and replace it with a system similar to that of Paralympic disciplines.
EPA/Franck Robichon

The price of victory: Caster Semenya again on trial

Caster Semenya’s gold medal in the women’s 800 metres track event at the Rio Olympics may be supplemented, in coming months, by an upgrade from silver to gold for the same event at the London Games. Re-testing…
Predictions that top women athletes will soon be competing with the best men, and may even outperform them someday, have not borne out. Ted Goldring/Flickr

Will women ever be able to compete against men in Olympic events?

A 1992 paper predicted that if women’s running performance continued to improve as rapidly as it had since the 1920s, top women athletes would soon be running as quickly as the men.
Does it make sense to target female athletes with high testosterone levels? Caster Semenya competes in the women’s 800-meter semifinal during the London Olympics. Gary Hershorn/Reuters

So what if some female Olympians have high testosterone?

Some women naturally produce high levels of testosterone. Why is this innate condition treated differently from other conditions that potentially enhance athletic performance?

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