Why there's no easy solution to the Caster Semenya dilemma

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RIO DE JANEIRO – There’s only one question that can silence a roomful of Olympic middle-distance runners previously jubilant after clinching their place in Saturday’s 800 meters final.

Ask them whether the race favorite should be allowed to run against them or not.

“Sorry, but I don’t want to talk about her,” Poland’s Joanna Jozwik said.

“Right now, I’m just focusing on my race,” American Kate Grace said.

“I just have to focus on what I can do,” Canada’s Melissa Bishop said.

Of course the topic they’re all trying to sidestep is Caster Semenya, the unwilling face of a complex, emotionally charged debate that has reignited during the buildup to the Olympics.

Semenya is believed to have a condition known as hyperandrogenism, which causes her body to produce testosterone at levels much higher than most women. The International Association of Athletics Federation previously claimed the right to require hyperandrogenic female athletes to take hormone-suppressing drugs to be eligible to compete, but a July 2015 decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport abolished that rule and eliminated any ceiling on acceptable testosterone levels in female competitors.

In Semenya’s first season since the rule change, she has achieved new levels of dominance. The 25-year-old South African won all eight 800 meters races she entered, registered three of this year’s four fastest times in the world and set a new personal best of 1:55.33 in July. The startling ease with which she has achieved all that has led to speculation that even Jarmila Kratochvilova’s 33-year-old world record of 1:53.28 could be vulnerable in Saturday night’s Olympic final.

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If the record falls, it will provide further ammunition for athletes and coaches who believe Semenya has an unfair competitive advantage over her peers. Already, some have suggested that Semenya is unbeatable in Rio and that the IAAF and Court of Arbitration for Sport will have to revisit this issue prior to next season.

“There’s definitely not an easy solution,” American 800-meter runner Ajee’ Wilson said. “There’s a saying that says you shouldn’t really come hard at a problem unless you have a solution. I don’t have one at this point, so I have to go with the flow of things. You can’t change anything, so you have to do what you have to do to try to win. If that means running a 1:55 or a 1:56, you just have to train harder.”

Semenya looked confident and strong during her semifinal heat on Thursday night, hanging near the front during most of the two-lap race before breezing past Grace and Great Britain’s Lynsey Sharp over the final 200 meters. The only time Semenya seemed uncomfortable was when South African officials escorted her through Olympic Stadium’s main press area after the race.

Several reporters asked her to talk, but Semenya kept her head down and didn’t acknowledge them. She zigzagged her way to the exit with dozens of eyes focused on her the entire time, maintaining her typical practice of saying little publicly about her condition and the controversy it has caused.

The one place where Semenya is less reticent to speak out is on social media. Among the motivational phrases Semenya has tweeted this month are a handful that seem to target her detractors.

“Be happy in front of your haters. It kills them.”

“Some people don’t like you because your strength reminds them of their weakness. Don’t let the hate slow you down.”

“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.”

Determining the most just course of action regarding Semenya’s future in track and field requires wrestling with two critical questions.

Does producing elevated levels of testosterone give Semenya an unfair competitive advantage over her competitors? And if so, what can be done to level the playing field without harming the South African?

There’s a dearth of scientific research examining the advantage hyperandrogenic female athletes enjoy, but the studies done thus far have not conclusively proved a substantial performance bump. When it abolished the IAAF’s policy restricting the permitted level of testosterone in female athletes last year, the Court of Arbitration for Sport argued that so far there was insufficient evidence to prove hyperandrogenism was any greater natural advantage than, say, Michael Phelps’ massive wingspan, supreme flexibility and flipper-sized feet.

In explaining its decision, the Court’s panel wrote, “While the evidence indicates that higher levels of naturally occurring testosterone may increase athletic performance, the panel is not satisfied that the degree of that advantage is more significant than the advantage derived from the numerous other variables which the parties acknowledge also affect female athletic performance: For example, nutrition, access to specialist training facilities and coaching and other genetic and biological variations.”

The oft-cited counterargument to that is Semenya’s career arc. A one-person sample size is far too small to draw sweeping conclusions, yet it’s undeniable Semenya has enjoyed her greatest success when testosterone-level restrictions were not a factor.

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The controversy surrounding Semenya began in 2009 when she blew away the rest of the 800 field by more than two seconds but couldn’t outrun the media firestorm that followed. The IAAF already had revealed the day before that it had asked Semenya to submit to gender verification tests in South Africa and Germany.

“For me she is not a woman,” said one of the beaten finalists, Italy’s Elisa Cusma Piccione. Another overmatched rival, Russia’s Mariya Savinova, sneered, “Just look at her.”

When the IAAF neither released the results of the testing nor gave Semenya permission to compete again, she began to grow impatient. In March 2010, she released a rare public statement on the matter, insisting she should be allowed to compete and condemning the IAAF for its handling of the matter.

“I have been subjected to unwarranted and invasive scrutiny of the most intimate and private details of my being,” Semenya said in her statement.

Once Semenya finally received clearance to compete again after an 11-month hiatus, she no longer flashed the dominant form that she displayed the previous summer. She settled for silver at the 2011 world championships and the 2012 Olympics and then faded from podium contention thereafter, prompting speculation that the IAAF had started requiring her to take testosterone-suppressing drugs to compete.

Now the restrictions are gone and the old Semenya is back. Improved health and a coaching change undoubtedly are factors in her re-emergence too, but many of her competitors are convinced the rule change has played a role, too.

“She does have an advantage, but I personally think she should compete,” said U.S. middle-distance runner Brenda Martinez, who took third place at the 2013 world championships in the 800 meters and reached this year’s Olympic semifinals in the 1500. “I don’t think anyone should be denied. It’s just not fair. Yeah, she’s different, but that’s not her fault. I like her. I respect her. I do want to race her.”

Ultimately, there may not be a solution that satisfies everyone.

Do you protect Semenya and other hyperandrogenic competitors so that they are free to compete without being compelled to take medication that suppresses their testosterone? Or do you infringe on their basic rights to protect the overwhelming majority of female competitors so that they’re not disadvantaged unfairly?

For track and field’s governing body, the time to revisit that issue will be after the Olympics. That leaves the seven other competitors in Saturday’s women’s 800 final with no other recourse but to do their best to give Semenya a rare challenge.

“If it was all about comparing times, you’d just hand them your times and they would pass out the medals,” Grace said. “It’s not. It’s racing. We’ve seen it in past races. Nobody is unbeatable.”

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