South African athlete Caster Semenya has emerged victorious at the European Court of Human Rights, where she was challenging the regulations that require women with naturally high testosterone to reduce those levels through medication.
She petitioned the court to rule whether her rights had been infringed, and the France-based court ruled in her favour on Tuesday.
Semenya approached the court in February 2021 after she lost appeals at the Court of Arbitration for Sports, the sport’s highest court.
Her plea also fell on deaf ears at the Swiss Federal Tribunal in a long-running legal battle against the sport’s regulations.
The European Court of Human Rights decision is not clear whether Semenya will be allowed to compete at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
Semenya was crowned Olympic champion in the 800m race in 2012 and 2016, respectively, but had been barred from competing in that distance since 2019 and did not defend her title at the Tokyo Olympics, thanks to the testosterone rules.
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