The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has upheld an appeal by the South African runner, Caster Semenya, against the international governing body for athletics.

The court said she’d been discriminated against because of a requirement that she should artificially reduce her naturally high testosterone levels in order to compete in women’s races.

Semenya is a double Olympic champion in the 800m event – but her refusal to medically reduce her hormone levels led to her being barred from competing at this distance since 2019.

Athletes, like Caster Semenya, who are identified as having high testosterone are required to medically lower their levels in order to compete in events between 400m and 1500mShe had argued that the rules enforced by World Athletics violated her right to freely compete in women’s sports, despite her being legally identified as female at birth, and identifying as female all her life.