Caster Semenya: "I'm ready to talk"

For almost 15 years Caster Semenya has been fighting for her right to run - and fighting to control her identity. She hasn’t spoken in detail about this period of her life. Now she’s ready to talk.

Caster is a double Olympic champion, and three time World Champion, in the 800m. But her incredible success on the track has arguably been overshadowed by the debate over whether she should be allowed to run in the female category.

Caster has what’s called a ‘Difference in Sex Development’, or DSD. She has a vagina, but no uterus. Rather, she has internal testes and a higher level of the hormone testosterone than most women.

It wasn’t until she was 18 years old, competing at the Berlin World Championships in 2009, that she would discover that she had a DSD - after what she describes as “invasive and humiliating” gender verification tests.

Caster is very clear about the fact she is a woman - a different type of woman. And to all her critics who try to deny her the right to run, she tells them: “you’re not stopping me, actually you are giving me power to change the world”.

In this exclusive interview, we ask Caster about the battle with World Athletics, the conversation about transgender athletes, race, and homosexuality.

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World Athletics told The News Movement that…

World Athletics' primary focus is on protecting the integrity of the female category. If we don’t, then women and young girls will not choose sport. That is, and has always been, the Federation’s sole motivation.

World Athletics has over a decade of research, directly from DSD athletes in our own sport, that show high testosterone levels do provide an unfair advantage in the female category. The research also shows that the frequency of DSD individuals in the elite athlete population is around 140 times higher than you will find in the general female population. This research has been upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport and the Swiss Federal Tribunal who found our guidelines on testosterone thresholds to be necessary, reasonable, and proportionate to protect the integrity of the female category.

Differences in Sexual Development (DSD) conditions occur all around the world and are usually diagnosed at birth. In Africa, like in other developing areas or countries, the diagnosis often comes later because there is a lack of post-natal monitoring and checks. This occurs for many reasons, and much is being done in some countries to address this.

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Chapters:

0:00 - Introduction
0:24 - You’re not stopping me
0:55 - Identity
3:23 - World Athletics
7:50 - Love
8:40 - What’s Next
9:26 - Credits

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Credits:
Emma Middleton - Journalist
Tom Gordon-Martin - Camera
Ellie Leith - Motion Design
Rebecca Hutson - Executive Editor
Kamal Ahmed - Editor-In-Chief