Caster Semenya: The IOC's Ruling is a Disgrace
If you know yourself and your purpose, you live up to it. No matter what walls someone may build between you and your dreams, you prevail. This kind of self-love and determination has guided me my entire life.
I woke up today needing that belief more than ever. Last week’s decision by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to subject athletes to mandatory gene testing, even if doing so will bar women like me from participating in women’s sports, didn’t surprise me.
For years now, I have been fighting for sports policies to be shaped by inclusivity and justice. I know that God made no mistakes in making me, and that I should be free to run exactly as I am. Since 2019, I have been prevented from running the distance I won gold in because I refuse to put myself through procedures that are both harmful and discriminatory.
When I was asked to consult on the IOC policy, I made it clear that I didn’t want to be a token voice. Why be present if I cannot use my experience and expertise to shape policy?
Why legitimize a system that is willing to toss aside minorities? The IOC’s statement concedes that the new policy will negatively impact athletes with Complete Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (CAIS) or other differences in sex development (DSDs). Because the IOC considered these conditions to be “rare,” they ultimately determined that negatively impacting this group of people is acceptable.
This is why it is clear to me that IOC’s decision—one rooted in political pressure—was predetermined before I was invited in. It seems to me that this was never meant to be a conversation. That is not how fair and equitable policies are made.
Like me, IOC President Kirsty Coventry is a woman from Africa. I hoped she would be different. I hoped that she would honor all athletes. I hoped that our shared home continent would open her eyes to the fact that this policy will disproportionately impact women from the global South.
Instead, she failed us. Together with eight other African women athletes, I worked with Humans of Sport to send a letter to Coventry about the cruel “eligibility regulations” we’ve had to deal with, including medical procedures and examinations we did not consent to.
For years, we have carried the weight of this misguided direction in women’s sports. While men are celebrated for their strengths, we bear the pain and trauma of being treated as less than human, simply because we are extraordinary athletes who work hard. Genetic screening is not, and never has been, a way to protect girls and women in sports. To call it that is to mask a monster. Let’s call this what it is: exclusion, just with a different name.
There is no single marker for what makes someone a woman, or for what makes an athlete great. We celebrate the exceptional in men’s sports all the time. But when it comes to women’s sports, there are such narrow definitions of who is allowed to participate. Sports are supposed to be about celebrating the exceptional, not forcing us to conform to outdated perceptions of what it means to be a woman.
“Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does,” said Nelson Mandela. “Sport can create hope where there was only despair.”
But sport can only live up to this potential when we are all allowed to enjoy it.
When I fell in love with running, I never saw myself having to fight so hard just to do what I love. Now, I know this fight is a greater purpose. It’s not just about my younger self, the 12-year-old girl from South Africa who loves to run. I’m speaking out for every woman and girl who has ever been told she’s not enough, told she is too strong, told she is not “right.”
That is what this policy tells women and girls. And it is a disgrace.
To be clear, I don’t see myself as a hero. I should not be put on a pedestal.
But the truth is, I’m just getting started. I won’t rest until all women in sports are valued, respected, and free.