(Sept. 7, 2018 – Source: Stephen Pond/Getty Images Europe)
*South African athlete Caster Semenya is speaking out about how she has no plans to retire despite a ruling that she cannot compete in the near future due to testosterone regulations imposed on her.
Semenya was born with XY chromosomes, making her testosterone levels three times that of an average woman.
As reported by NBC Sports, she has dominated the 800-meter run for a decade, winning Olympic gold medals in 2012 and 2016 along with three world championships. But she has also been at the center of an ethical and medical debate about athletes with XY chromosomes competing with women who have the more common XX pairing.
She will not be able to defend her 800-metres title at the world championships in September after the Swiss Federal Tribunal reversed a ruling that temporarily lifted regulations she was hit with. Semenya is appealing the ruling.
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Double Olympic champion Caster Semenya says she never felt supported by other women. Read more: https://t.co/G5Rb40dYOw pic.twitter.com/X5woqAkzi9
— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) August 15, 2019
“I might be stopped from running now, but it’s just a temporary thing,” Semenya said during a South African women’s conference this week.
“I’m targeted because I’m undefeated,” the 28-year-old added.
Per BBC.com:
Semenya is challenging the International Association of Athletics Federations’ new rules that she and other athletes with differences of sexual development (DSD) must either take testosterone-reducing medication in order to compete in track events from 400m to the mile, or change to another distance.
In an interview from the conference that was live-streamed by South African outlet Eyewitness News, Semenya also spoke about empowering women, something she says other women have not done for her in her career.
“If you want to empower women, it starts first amongst us,” she said. “I always have this question about what is it we are doing to empower other women. Do we support them just by saying it, or do we support them physically or emotionally?
“Since I’ve been in sports, I’ve never really felt really supported. I’ve never felt recognized, mostly by women.”
Semenya added: “I’m the best at what I do. When you are the best in the world people get obsessed with what you are doing.
“Probably I’m a problem because I’m an over-achiever so we must get rid of you.
“Whoever is going to stop me from running is going to have to drag me out of the track. There’s not much that I can say about the case. What I can tell you is that I am on top of my game.”
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