Two-time Olympic gold medalist Caster Semenya is taking her fight to the European Court of Human Rights.
Semenya is seeking to appeal a 2020 decision by the Switzerland Supreme Court that ruled women with naturally elevated testosterone levels could not take part in events without medical interventions to lower their testosterone.
Rules introduced by World Athletics in 2018 prevent some female athletes with naturally high testosterone levels from participating in competitions.
Semenya is not allowed to compete in events between 400m and a mile without taking testosterone-reducing drugs, following a 2019 rule change by governing body World Athletics.
The 30-year-old South African lost an appeal to Switzerland’s Federal Supreme Court in September but still harbours hopes of defending her Olympic title in Tokyo this year.
“All we ask is to be allowed to run free, for once and for all, as the strong and fearless women we are and have always been,” she said.
Her lawyers will argue Switzerland failed in its obligations to protect against the violation of her rights.
Athletics’ governing body brought in a rule that athletes with differences of sexual development (DSD) must either take medication in order to compete in track events from 400m to the mile, or change to another distance.
