Plan B Forum

Olympics: Caster Semenya Wins and Claressa Shields Defends Title

Caster Semenya of South Africa, whose body has been subjected to indelicate and unrelenting public scrutiny for years, won her first Olympic gold medal on Saturday at the Rio Games.

Semenya won the 800 meters by a comfortable margin, in 1 minute 55.28 seconds. While her performances tend to carry the weight of an issue that transcends sports, those looking for undeniable athletics excellence Saturday night were rewarded: her runaway victory solidified her standing as one of the best middle-distance runners of her generation.

Francine Niyonsaba of Burundi was second in 1:56.49, and Margaret Wambui of Kenya was third in 1:56.89.
Photo
Credit James Hill for The New York Times

When Semenya, then 18, dominated the 800 at the 2009 world track and field championships, winning by more than two seconds, a fellow competitor called her a man, setting off a years-long debate over how sports officials should navigate the complicated question of how to determine an athlete’s sex.

The questioning of Semenya’s success led to a policy enacted in 2011 by the I.A.A.F., the sport’s governing body, that restricted the permitted levels of testosterone, which occur naturally high in some women. That condition is called hyperandrogenism.

With that policy in effect, Semenya won silver at the 2012 London Games.

Last year, the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the Swiss-based high court for international sport, suspended track and field’s testosterone policy for two years.

The court said it had been “unable to conclude that hyperandrogenic female athletes may benefit from such a significant performance advantage that it is necessary to exclude them from competing in the female category.”