Olympic champion Caster Semenya wins human rights case but testosterone rules may remain for years

Champion runner Caster Semenya won a potentially landmark legal decision when the European Court of Human Rights decided she was discriminated against by rules in track and field

Champion runner Caster Semenya won a potentially landmark legal decision for sports on Tuesday when the European Court of Human Rights decided she was discriminated against by rules in track and field that force her to medically reduce her natural hormone levels to compete in major competitions.

The ruling by the Strasbourg, France-based court questioned the “validity” of the contentious international athletics regulations in that they infringed Semenya's human rights.

“Caster has never given up her fight to be allowed to compete and run free,” Semenya's lawyers said in a statement. "This important personal win for her is also a wider victory for elite athletes around the world. It means that sporting governance bodies around the world must finally recognize that human rights law and norms apply to the athletes they regulate.”

But the two-time Olympic champion's success after two failed appeals in sports' highest court and the Swiss supreme court came with a major caveat. Amid her bid to be allowed to run again without restriction and go for another gold at next year's Olympics in Paris, Tuesday’s judgment did not immediately result in the rules being dropped.

That might still take years, if it happens at all.

The South African athlete's challenge against the testosterone rules has taken five years so far.

It has gone from the Switzerland-based Court of Arbitration for Sport to the Swiss supreme court and now the European rights court. The 4-3 ruling in Semenya's favor by a panel of human rights judges in the unusual position of ruling on a sports issue merely opened the way for the Swiss supreme court to reconsider its decision.