South African female runner, Caster Semenya, has vowed never to relent in the fight for the human rights of female athletes despite losing her appeal to Switzerland Federal Supreme Court against her restriction of testosterone levels in female runners.
In 2019, World Athletic governing body, formerly known as IAAF, changed its rule which denied Semenya the right to compete in events between 400m and a mile without taking testosterone reducing drugs.
The South African runner approached the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to challenge the decision but her appeal was turned down last year.
She then appealed to the Switzerland Federal Supreme Court, who then temporarily suspended the ruling.
However, the Swiss Court later reversed its decision and ruled against her on Tuesday.
The Swiss Courts in its decisions ruled as follows;
“Based on these findings, the CAS decision cannot be challenged.
“Fairness in sport is a legitimate concern and forms a central principle of sporting competition.
“It is one of the pillars on which competition is based.
“The European Court of Human Rights also attaches particular importance to the aspect of fair competition.
“In addition to this significant public interest, the CAS rightly considered the other relevant interests, namely the private interests of the female athletes running in the ‘women’ category.”
While expressing her disappointment over the decision, Semeya, according to BBC Sports, said she will not allow the World Athletics to drug her.
“I am very disappointed, she said.”
“I refuse to let World Athletics drug me or stop me from being who I am.”
“Excluding female athletes or endangering our health solely because of our natural abilities puts World Athletics on the wrong side of history.
“I will continue to fight for the human rights of female athletes, both on the track and off the track, until we can all run free the way we were born.
“I know what is right and will do all I can to protect basic human rights, for young girls everywhere.”
The Olympiad also took to her Twitter page to calm her fans down.
“Chills, my people, A man can change the rules but the very same man cannot rule my life.
“What I’m saying is that I might have failed against them the truth is that I have won this battle long ago.
“Go back to my achievements, then you will understand.
“Doors might be closed not locked.”
On its part, the World Athletics welcomed the decision and promised to defend equal rights and opportunities for all women and girls in the track and field events.