South African golden girl, Caster Semenya.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport was due to hear Semenya’s case on Monday, where she would argue that; “she is undoubtedly a woman."
In a statement, the IAAF has denied it is seeking to have any athletes with differences in sexual development classified as male, saying it: “… accepts their legal sex without question”. However, the governing body says it does want athletes, such as Semenya, to reduce their testosterone levels before they compete internationally.
The implementation of these rules would force athletes with “differences of sexual development” to keep testosterone levels below a prescribed amount. The rules were supposed to be effected in November last year, but were put on ice, pending Semenya’s hearing.
Shadrack Nthangeni, Director of Sport and Recreation, said TUT Sport will unceasingly support Mokgadi Caster Semenya to ensure that she is treated fairly as an athlete at the peak of her career. “All she wants to do is to run; and our business at TUT Sport is to allow athletes to flourish in their respective sporting careers.”
“As a people's university, we stand firmly behind our student and athlete (Semenya) and we would like to declare our unwavering support in her quest to win this battle. It is really unfortunate that someone is subjected to unfair treatment because of how they were born,” Professor Lourens Van Staden, Vice-Chancellor and Principal, said.