By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The top European Court upholds the 2023 ruling that World Athletics (WA) rules discriminated against double 800 metres Olympic champion Caster Semenya.
Semenya was excluded from her specialist event unless she agreed to undergo medical treatment to reduce her naturally elevated testosterone levels.
In 2023, a chamber of the Strasbourg-based court had already found that Switzerland failed to protect Semenya’s fundamental rights when its legal system upheld the World Athletics regulations. The judgement identified violations of her rights to non-discrimination, private and family life, and effective remedy. However, the decision did not overturn the sporting rules nor reinstate her eligibility.
Following that ruling, Switzerland – supported by World Athletics – appealed to the Grand Chamber, the court’s highest body composed of 17 judges.
The case does not directly target World Athletics but rather the Swiss state, whose jurisdiction encompasses both the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and the Swiss Federal Tribunal, the two legal bodies that previously ruled against Semenya. After exhausting all legal avenues in Switzerland, she brought her complaint to the European Court, which accepted it given the structural human rights issues it raised.
The Grand Chamber of the ECHR found that the Swiss Federal Court failed to properly consider Semenya’s appeal after she was barred from competing unless she took hormone-suppressing medication.
It ruled that, as such, Semenya “had not benefitted from the safeguards provided for” a fair trial in the European Convention on Human Rights.
It ordered Switzerland to pay the athlete 80 000 euros (around R1.6 million) for her expenses.
The case now return to the Swiss courts, or possibly the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
While the ruling does not overturn current World Athletics rules, it reopens Semenya’s path to justice and possibly a return to competition.