Dylan Bettencourt
Controversy surrounding female runners labelled “intersex athletes” has taken the spotlight at the World Athletic Championships as they were the fastest in the women’s 200m semi-finals.
South African Caster Semenya was the first top athlete to be labelled as an “intersex athlete” following her remarkable performances in the 800m over 10 years ago.
In response, World Athletics introduced regulations that prevented women with high levels of testosterone from competing in the 400m to 1,500m events.
These regulations were established in 2019 and still allowed the athletes to compete in their designated events – but only if they were willing to take testosterone-suppression medication.
This forced most 400m athletes that fall into the intersex category to move into the 200m race, where they remain dominant.
Namibia’s Beatrice Masilingi, an intersex athlete who made last year’s Olympic final, won her race in 22.27 seconds.
Niger’s Aminatou Seyni, also an intersex athlete, was the quickest of all qualifiers with a time of 21.98.
President of World Athletics Lord Sebastian Coe said testosterone regulations remained under review.
At the Tokyo Olympics last year another athlete in the category, Christine Mboma, broke every junior record in her events before finishing second in the women’s 100m final.
Mboma is not at this year’s World Championships due to injury.
Coe said the aim of World Athletics was to remain fair to women in this matter and to ensure inclusion rather than exclusion.
While the other intersex athletes dropped down to the 200m event, Semenya has found it difficult adapting to a new race distance.
The South African is due to compete in the women’s 5,000m event later in the tournament which is staged in Oregon, United States.
Image source: @TheTelegraph
