Athletics

SA sports bosses meet to ponder Caster appeal

2019-05-07 11:28

Cape Town - Athletics South Africa (ASA), SASCOC and the Department for Sport and Recreation met on Monday to discuss the way forward for Caster Semenya

The 28-year-old was on the wrong end of a ruling from the Court for Arbitration of Sport (CAS) last week that is now threatening her career. 

A two-time Olympic champion in the 800m, Semenya will be forced to take medication to ensure that her levels of natural testosterone are lowered if she wants to continue competing in the event. 

It is a decision that has caused outrage internationally, and Semenya and her legal team now have until the end of May to appeal the decision. 

SASCOC president Gideon Sam told Sport24 on Monday that "the meeting went well". 

"SASCOC continues to stand 100% behind Caster," he said. 

The decision to appeal or not, Sam explained, would be driven by ASA leadership. 

On Friday, Semenya raced in what could possibly be her final appearance in the 800m when she won comfortably at the opening IAAF Diamond League event in Doha. 

After that race, she insisted that she would not take the medication and that she was still looking to defend her 800m title at the IAAF World Championships, also to be held in Doha in September this year. 

Another option for Semenya if she refused to take the medication would be to run in the 5 000m. 

The 3 000m is no longer contested at world championship and Olympic level.

The recommendation from the CAS was that Semenya should be allowed to run in the 1 500m because there wasn't enough evidence to suggest that heightened testosterone levels provided an advantage over that distance. 

As it stands, however, the IAAF ruling includes the 1 500m, meaning that Semenya will have to medicate if she wants to compete over that distance too. 

Read more on:    iaaf  |  asa  |  sascoc  |  caster semenya  |  athletics

 

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