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IAAF welcomes Swiss court's ruling in Semenya case

The IAAF has welcomed the decision from the Swiss Federal Tribunal that ruled Caster Semenya out of the World Athletics Championships.

Caster Semenya

Monaco, July 31: Double Olympic champion Caster Semenya has been denied the chance to defend her 800M title title at the World Athletics Championships Doha 2019 following a ruling by a Swiss court that has been welcomed by the sport's global governing body.

The South African athlete had been given permission to race without restriction after lodging an appeal with the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland (SFT) against the Court of Arbitration for Sport's (CAS) verdict in her case against the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).

CAS ruled the IAAF could implement a regulation that would require Semenya to take medication to lower her testosterone levels to take part in women's track events ranging from 400M to a mile.

But on Tuesday (July 30) a judge with the Swiss Federal Tribunal overturned the SFT's decision to allow Semenya to compete while it assessed the case in a move praised by the governing body of international athletics.

"The IAAF welcomes the Swiss Federal Tribunal's decision to revoke its Super-Provisional Order of 31 May 2019 after hearing the IAAF's arguments," an IAAF statement read.

"This decision creates much-needed parity and clarity for all athletes as they prepare for the IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha 2019 this September.

"In the remainder of the proceedings before the SFT, the IAAF will maintain its position that there are some contexts, sport being one of them, where biology has to trump gender identity."

In her own response to the latest ruling, Semenya remained defiant as evident from a series of tweets.

"I am very disappointed to be kept from defending my hard-earned title, but this will not deter me from continuing my fight for the human rights of all of the female athletes concerned," she said.

The IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha 2019 will be held at the recently renovated Khalifa International Stadium from September 28 to October 6.

(With Agency inputs)

Story first published: Wednesday, July 31, 2019, 16:26 [IST]
Other articles published on Jul 31, 2019