Swiss court 'clears Semenya to compete without lowering testosterone'

South African runner Caster Semenya is eligible to run middle distances without reducing her naturally high testosterone level after the Swiss Federal Supreme Court temporarily suspended IAAF regulations, according to her lawyers.

On Monday, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court upheld the runner’s appeal against the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), allowing the athletics governing body to respond to the situation within three weeks.

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“The court today ordered the IAAF to suspend immediately the implementation of the regulation with regard to Caster and has given the IAAF until the 25th of June to respond to the suspense of effect,” said Greg Nott, Semenya's lawyer.

Last year, the IAAF introduced a new testosterone rule requiring any female athlete, including those with differences of sex development (DSD), to have a testosterone level below 5 nmol/L.

Semenya attempted to challenge the ruling, which she deemed unfair, filing an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

However, her appeal was rejected after the IAAF was deemed to have presented enough evidence in court to prove that higher testosterone levels give athletes a significant advantage over competitors.

Two-time Olympic 800m winner Semenya found the testosterone ruling discriminative, as it didn’t cover all athletics disciplines, extending to just middle distances (from 400m to 1,500m), dominated by Semenya.

Semenya will be allowed to compete in all events without medically reducing her testosterone while her appeal is pending.