The South African runner Caster Semenya, a two-time Olympian and a celebrity in international sports, has spent years challenging proposed limits on female athletes. She has been fiercely defended and lauded in South Africa, and was awarded the Order of Ikhamanga, a recognition of significant achievement, by President Jacob Zuma in 2014. The proclamation said she was “one of the most well-loved daughters of the soil who won hearts of many by making running look like poetry in motion.”[A ruling by the highest court in sports was a defeat for Caster Semenya.] But on Wednesday, the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the highest court in international sports, ruled that female athletes who, like Semenya, have elevated levels of testosterone must take hormone suppressants to compete in certain races. Here’s a look at the runner who is at the center of the controversy over sex testing in sports.

Source: International New York Times May 01, 2019 22:16 UTC