{"id":54314,"date":"2026-03-29T11:57:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T11:57:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/?p=54314"},"modified":"2026-03-29T11:57:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T11:57:08","slug":"ioc-disrespecting-women-caster-semenya","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/2026\/03\/29\/ioc-disrespecting-women-caster-semenya\/","title":{"rendered":"IOC &#8216;causing harm&#8217; and &#8216;disrespecting women&#8217;, says Caster Semenya"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<p><h2>Semenya has called on the International Olympic Committee to release scientific data proving DSD athletes have an unfair advantage.<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Former Olympic and world 800m champion Caster Semenya has lashed out at the International Olympic Committee (IOC), claiming its policy banning athletes with differences of sexual development (DSD) from competing in women\u2019s sport is both \u201cdisrespectful\u201d and \u201charmful\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The IOC announced this week that\u00a0women\u2019s sports would be limited to biological females, determined on the basis of a one\u2011time SRY gene screening, which would force DSD and transgender athletes to compete in the men\u2019s division.<\/p>\n<p>The Olympic body said it had found there was at least a 10% advantage in most running and swimming events for men, rising beyond 100% for sports requiring \u201cexplosive power\u201d.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-disrespectful-towards-women\">\u2018Disrespectful towards women\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>Semenya criticised the IOC, however, claiming this was \u201ca lie\u201d and calling on the organisation to release the scientific data to back up its claims.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor you as a woman, why will you be tested to prove that you\u2019re fit?\u201d Semenya said yesterday<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou know, it\u2019s like now we need to prove that we are worthy as women to take part in sports. That\u2019s disrespectful\u00a0towards women.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Until the IOC could prove DSD athletes had a significant advantage, Semenya said the organisation was violating their rights.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis affects women\u2026 and if you\u2019re going to respect women\u2019s dignity, then don\u2019t question how they are,\u201d Semenya said\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAccept them for who they are and accept them to take part in sports. Respect them and respect their dignity because we\u2019re talking about human rights and diversity, and if you are an organisation like the IOC talking about diversity, then act like one.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-causing-harm\">\u2018Causing harm\u2019<\/h3>\n<p>Semenya said IOC president Kirsty Coventry, a former elite swimmer for Zimbabwe, was not considering the challenges African women had previously faced due to regulations which had been put in place by World Athletics. They included Semenya\u2019s former 800m rivals Margaret Wambui of Kenya and Francine Niyonsaba of Burundi, who were also DSD athletes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor her (Coventry) being a woman coming from Africa, knowing how African women or women in the global south are affected by that, of course, it causes harm.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While Semenya, 35, continues to participate in road races \u2013 she finished 12th at the Spar Grand Prix 10km event in Cape Town yesterday \u2013 she retired from competitive track athletics a few years ago after being sidelined from her specialist middle-distance events in 2019 when World Athletics enforced regulations preventing DSD athletes from competing against women without having treatment to reduce their natural testosterone levels.<\/p>\n<p>Semenya previously had successfully fought to have World Athletics restrictions lifted temporarily after being banned earlier in her career, and though she continued her battle against the global athletics body in European courts after the 2019 rules were put in place, she had not succeeded in her attempt to have them overturned.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<h3>Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p>Add The Citizen as a Preferred Source on Google and follow us on Google News to see more of our trusted reporting in Google News and Top Stories.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n#IOC #causing #harm #disrespecting #women #Caster #Semenya<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Semenya has called on the International Olympic Committee to release scientific data proving DSD athletes have an unfair advantage. Former&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":54315,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mzansi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54314"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54314\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54316,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54314\/revisions\/54316"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}