Thu, July 10, 2025
ECHR declares Semenya was violated by Swiss Supreme Court
Europe’s top court, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), has declared that Differences of Sexual Development (DSD) athlete and double 800m Olympic champion Caster Semenya was not given the right to a fair hearing by the Swiss Federal Supreme Court in 2020 after World Athletics (WA) barred her from competing. DSD is a condition where an individual's chromosomes, sex hormones, or anatomy differ from typical male or female development. These conditions are often referred to as intersex variations. DSDs can lead to markedly increased circulating testosterone in women.
South Africa’s Semenya has been unable to compete in the 800m since WA introduced regulations restricting testosterone levels in 2019. These regulations now concern all female track and field events. Semenya argues that WA discriminates against DSD athletes by forcing them to reduce their testosterone levels to participate in elite female competition. Under WA rules, female DSD athletes must lower their level of testosterone to below 2.5 nmol/L for at least six months to be eligible to compete because higher levels of testosterone result in increased muscle mass and strength. Testosterone can be reduced medically or surgically.
It has now been announced that the ECHR ruled in favour of Semenya in her case against the Swiss Supreme Court. The case did not concern sporting bodies or DSD regulations, but the fact that Switzerland’s government failed to protect Semenya’s rights back in 2020 when she went to the court to appeal WA’s testosterone regulations. She argued that she had not been afforded sufficient institutional and procedural safeguards in Switzerland. Switzerland then requested that the European Court's Grand Chamber consider the case, and its hearing was held on 15 May 2024.
It has been disclosed that the ECHR ruled that Semenya’s case was not properly heard. More specifically, the Swiss Court “had not satisfied the requirement of particular rigour under Article 6 (right to a fair hearing) of the European Convention on Human Rights. Semenya has also been awarded €80,000 (£69,000).
Despite this, Semenya's complaints under Articles 8 (right to respect for private life), 13 (right to an effective remedy) and 14 (prohibition of discrimination) were dismissed as they “did not fall within Switzerland's jurisdiction,” according to BBC Sport.
As this case concerned the Swiss Court’s conduct and not World Athletics’ DSD regulations directly, ECHR’s verdict will not change the current WA DSD regulations.
However, Semenya voiced that the outcome was: “great for me, great for athletes”
She continued: “This is a reminder to the leaders [that] athletes need to be protected. Before we can regulate, we have to respect athletes and put their rights first.”
Semenya’s case could go back to the Swiss Court, but this will most likely take several years. Semenya’s lawyer, Schona Jolly, expressed: “As of today, the governance of international sport needs to sit up and take notice of an athlete's fundamental rights. It's not possible to put this aside and say 'the substantive rights of the athlete don't matter'. They firmly do.”
WA continues to take a firm stance when it comes to female eligibility. President of WA, Sebastian Coe, has approved cheek swabs and dry blood tests as biological sex tests for female athletes to ensure the “integrity of female women’s sport.” Crucially, WA’s new rules will also ban DSD athletes from the female category.
Additionally, the new leader of the International Olympic Committee, Kirsty Coventry, has announced that the committee will take over responsibility of gender eligibility criteria, acknowledging concerns about leaving the issue solely to international federations (IFs). It is expected that Coventry will ban transgender athletes and athletes with DSD from the female category as well.
The case can be found here.
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