Semenya wins 2000m race despite IAAF challenge
Double Olympic champion Caster Semenya got back on track after winning Tuesday's Women 2,000m race in Montreuil, east of Paris, despite the ongoing legal fight with the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) in referance to its testosterone rules.
The South African finished the race in 5 min 38.9 sec. faster than Ethiopia's Hawi Feysa and Adanech Anbesa who settled for second and third places respectively. Semenya last won the women's 800m race at the IAAF World Athletics Diamond League in Doha about a month ago before the testosterone controversies.
The new IAAF rules which were effected on 8th May, require women with higher than normal male hormone levels to artificially lower the amount of testosterone in their bodies if they are to compete in races over distances of 400m to the mile.
Athletes South Africa (ASA) and Semenya appealed a Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) decision that supported the IAAF's rule that XY chromosome athletes with differences in sexual development (DSDs).
On 4th June 2019, the Swiss Federal Tribunal (SFT) temporarily suspended the application of the differences of sex development (DSD) Regulations passed by IAAF on Caster Semenya.
"There will always be people who will provoke you, but I'm always going to stay positive. I'm not going to talk about the appeal, I have a lawyer, I have a team. I am an athlete the only thing I focus on is my performance." Semenya resonded to questions regarding her future.
"Even if I have to withdraw from the 800m, it doesn't matter no more. I think I have won everything I ever wanted, I'm not an idiot, why would I take drugs? I am a pure athlete, not a cheat. They should focus on doping not us." She added.
She has also been named in South Africa's preliminary squad for the world championships in Doha, but it will be determined by what comes out of her appeal to the SFT. Her next race is expected to be the 3000 metres of the Prefontaine Classic in Stanford, California, on June 30.
