Favourable genetics not testosterone giving Caster Semenya turbo – UK study

LONDON — Controversy has dogged Caster Semenya, double Olympic gold medal winner in the 800 metres in 2012 and 2016, for most of her career. Recently the debate about her gender was reopened when the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) adopted a new rule that prevents women with hyperandrogenism from competing in events from 400-1500m if they have testosterone levels higher than five nanomoles per litre. Women with elevated levels of testosterone in these events are required to take medication to reduce their levels. Many thought this could be the end of Semenya's stellar athletic career. South Africans are overwhelmingly in support of Semenya and the United Nations Human Rights Council called the plans unnecessary, humiliating and harmful. Semenya has appealed and is waiting for a verdict by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which is expected at the end of April. The President of the IAAF, Sebastian Coe said in an interview earlier this month that gender classification was needed to protect women's sport to which Semenya responded that he had opened old wounds and that she was no threat to women's sport. In a reality check in the BBC's Science Focus Magazine, endocrinologist Prof Peter Sonksen, who has been awarded an OBE for his contribution in fighting against doping in sport comes out in support of Semenya, saying her performance is down to favourable genetics and the goals that women like her are reaching, are attainable for other women. He is backed up by Cambridge prof Malcolm Ferguson-Smith. – Linda van Tilburg

By Thulasizwe Sithole

The BBC's Science Focus magazine has a section where they get experts to check on claims and in this case; they wanted to know whether Caster Semenya's high testosterone levels are in fact the reason for her superior performance. Prof Peter Sonksen acknowledges that he and prof Malcolm Ferguson-Smith did not have access to Semenya's medical records. The only information they had to go on, was that she was born as a female baby and went on to become a talented athlete.

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