Double Olympic champion Caster Semenya has vowed to challenge the International Olympic Committee’s new policy requiring a gene-screening test to determine if athletes are eligible to compete in female categories, calling it a violation that “undermines women’s rights.”
The IOC announced last week that, starting with the LA2028 Olympics, Youth Olympics, and Games qualifiers, all athletes wishing to compete in female events must undergo an SRY gene test to verify their eligibility.
The rule comes after an 18-month consultation period and is expected to be adopted broadly by international sports federations, standardizing eligibility rules that have previously been inconsistent and controversial.
IOC President Kirsty Coventry defended the policy, saying it is “foundationally based in science and led by medical experts” and citing fairness and safety concerns in women’s sports. She emphasized that at the Olympic level, even the smallest margins can decide outcomes, making the policy necessary.
However, Semenya, 35, who has Differences of Sex Development (DSD) and was assigned female at birth, argues the policy relies on flawed science. Having previously fought World Athletics over rules forcing her to reduce testosterone levels, Semenya says her lived experience as a female athlete proves that womanhood and female biology are not uniform. She and eight other athletes from the Global South had previously submitted input to the IOC, which she claims was largely ignored, calling the consultation “a box-ticking exercise.”
Semenya’s legal challenge is expected to reignite the global debate over fairness, biology, and human rights in elite women’s sports.