ATHLETICS NEWS - The world's sports court will decide on Wednesday on South African runner Caster Semenya's challenge against rules regulating testosterone in female athletes, a verdict expected to have a profound impact on the future of women's sport.
Semenya, a double Olympic champion, is fighting regulations imposed by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) that compel "hyperandrogenic" athletes – or those with "differences of sexual development" (DSD) – to lower their testosterone levels if they wish to compete as women.
The IAAF says the rules are essential to preserve a level playing field and ensure that all female athletes can see "a path to success."
But Semenya's cause has earned widespread support, including by a global coalition of nations and scientific experts who argue that testosterone is an arbitrary and unfair measure for determining gender.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland heard a week of arguments in the case in February. A panel of three arbitrators is due to deliver its verdict on Wednesday at 12:00 pm (1000 GMT.)
Semenya, who has dominated the 800m race over the last decade, has remained largely silent through the court battle, excluding statements from her legal team condemning the IAAF's tactics and policies.
But scores of others have vocally rallied behind her.
In a rare intrusion into the world of sport, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolution last month branding the IAAF rules "unnecessary, humiliating and harmful."
With unanimous support from the council's 47 member-states representing every continent, the resolution marked a stunning rebuke for the IAAF.
Tennis legend Martina Navratilova is among a long-list of athletes who have backed Semenya.
But her most fervent support has come from her native South Africa, where the government has accused the IAAF of seeking to violate women's bodies and levelled racism charges against the athletics governing body.
Experts have meanwhile argued that barring certain women from competition due to naturally high testosterone levels would be like excluding basketball players because they are too tall.
Multiple scientists have noted that achieving excellence in sport is a combination of training, commitment as well as genetics and that excluding people from competition over a single genetic factor has no scientific basis.
