03/29/26 12:23:00
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03/29 12:21 CDT Olympic champion Caster Semenya disappointed with Kirsty
Coventry after IOC's transgender decision
Olympic champion Caster Semenya disappointed with Kirsty Coventry after IOC's
transgender decision
CAPE TOWN (AP) --- Two-time Olympic champion runner Caster Semenya on Sunday
expressed her disappointment with IOC President Kirsty Coventry over the
decision to ban transgender women athletes from competing in women's events at
the Olympics.
Semenya, who is South African, said she expected more from a woman leader like
Coventry, who is from Zimbabwe and a fellow African.
"Personally, for her as a leader, she's an African, I'm sure she understands
how, you know, we as Africans, we are coming from, as a global South, you know,
you cannot control genetics," Semenya said at a press conference after a
women's race promoted to celebrate female strength, unity and community support
in Cape Town. "For me personally, for her being a woman coming from Africa,
knowing how, you know, African women or women in the global South are affected
by that."
Semenya spoke three days after the International Olympic Committee excluded
transgender women athletes from competing in women's events at the Olympics or
any IOC event. The decision published in a 10-page policy document Thursday
also restricts female athletes such as Semenya with medical conditions known as
differences in sex development, or DSD.
"Obviously if you say the science, because we talk about science here, if the
science is clear, show us who decided and don't dress that as a lie because
it's a lie and we know because we've seen it so if we were to answer or
confront Kirsty that's how we gonna respond and we'll respond strong as we are
because it affects women," Semenya said.
Semenya, who was assigned female at birth in South Africa and has testosterone
levels higher than the typical female range, is a two-time Olympic gold
medalist in the 800 meters who has been banned from running in her favorite
race at major international meets like the Olympics and world championships
since 2019 because she refused to follow the rules and take medication to
artificially reduce her hormone levels.
"For me personally, I'll say the voice is not heard because you taking it as a
tick box, you ticking a box so you can go clarify or say yes we've consulted,"
she said. "For me, it's you ticking the box."
Semenya and other track athletes, such as Dutee Chand of India, challenged
previous versions of their sport's eligibility rules in court.
Before the 2024 Paris Olympics, three top-tier sports --- track and field,
swimming and cycling --- excluded transgender women who had been through male
puberty. Semenya won a European Court of Human Rights judgment in her
years-long legal challenge to track and field's rules that did not overturn
them.
Last year, though, she claimed to have ended her seven-year legal challenge
against sex eligibility rules despite that legal victory.
The eligibility policy that will apply from the Los Angeles Olympics in July
2028 "protects fairness, safety and integrity in the female category," the IOC
said Thursday.
It is unclear how many, if any, transgender women are competing at an Olympic
level. No woman who transitioned from being born male competed at the 2024
Paris Summer Games, though weightlifter Laurel Hubbard did at the Tokyo
Olympics in 2021 without winning a medal.
The IOC said last week's decision was not retroactive and did not apply to any
grassroots or recreational sports programs. The IOC's Olympic Charter states
that access to play sport is a human right.
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AP Winter Olympics at https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
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