Court Allows Caster Semenya to Run without Taking Testosterone-Reducing Drugs

South African middle-distance runner Caster Semenya will be able to compete in her preferred 800m race without taking testosterone-reducing medication.

This comes after the double Olympic Champion moved to the Swiss Federal Tribunal to appeal April's ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which allowed the IAAF to implement new regulations that force female athletes with differences in sexual development (DSDs) to lower their levels of testosterone by taking drugs.

“The Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland has ordered the IAAF to immediately suspend the implementation of the eligibility regulations against Caster Semenya, allowing her to compete without restriction in the female category while her appeal is pending,” Semenya’s lawyers said in a statement.

“The Swiss Supreme Court has granted welcome temporary protection to Caster Semenya. This is an important case that will have fundamental implications for the human rights of female athletes,” added Dorothee Schramm, Swiss counsel for Semenya.

Semenya said she remains hopeful that her appeal at the Swiss court will be successful.

“I am thankful to the Swiss judges for this decision. I hope that following my appeal I will once again be able to run free,” she said.

The suspension gives Semenya an opportunity to compete in the 800m event in Oslo on June 13th.

The 28-year-old is set to complete in a 2,000 meters event in Paris on June 11th and had indicated she would run in the 3,000 meters at the Diamond League’s Prefontaine Classic in California on June 30th.

The new IAAF rules require female athletes with high natural levels of testosterone wishing to participate in events from 400m to a mile to medically lower that level to under 5 nmol/L.