Semenya Condemns Olympic Gender Tests as Disrespectful to Women

South African middle-distance runner Caster Semenya criticized the International Olympic Committee’s return to gender verification tests. She said the move is harmful and demeaning to women. Semenya spoke on Sunday in Cape Town during a sporting event.

Reaction to IOC decision

The IOC announced a blanket eligibility rule for the 2028 Los Angeles Games. It said only biological females will be allowed in women’s events. The organisation plans a one-time SRY gene screening to determine eligibility.

Tests will use saliva, cheek swabs, or blood. They will be carried out once in an athlete’s lifetime. IOC President Kirsty Coventry defended the policy as science-led and safety-focused.

What Semenya said

Semenya condemned Olympic gender tests as disrespectful to women. She expressed particular concern for women from Africa and the Global South. She said the policy causes real harm to those communities.

Legal and sporting background

Semenya has long been at the centre of disputes over hyperandrogenic athletes. She won two Olympic 800m golds and three world titles after emerging in 2009. Her legal fight reached the European Court of Human Rights in 2025.

The ECHR issued a 15-2 ruling in 2025. It found her right to a fair hearing was violated before Switzerland’s Supreme Court. The decision did not overturn World Athletics’ eligibility rules that effectively ended her 800m career.

Earlier testing and policy shifts

Chromosomal sex testing was used in Olympics from 1968 to 1996. The practice was dropped in 1999 after criticism by scientists and athletes. The IOC had allowed federations to set their own rules under a 2021 framework.

The new policy reverses that approach. It establishes a single, Olympic-wide standard. The move also reduces tension with recent national measures on transgender participation.

Political and sporting fallout

U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order in January 2025 banning transgender athletes from women’s sports. He later claimed credit for the IOC’s change on social media. The IOC’s shift therefore has both sporting and political dimensions.

Recent controversies influencing policy

The 2024 Paris Olympics saw a high-profile gender dispute in women’s boxing. Algerian Imane Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting were excluded from the 2023 IBA world championships. The IOC allowed both to compete at Paris, and both won gold medals.

Lin has been cleared to compete in female events run by World Boxing. That organisation will oversee boxing at the Los Angeles Games. The boxing episode helped prompt renewed debate over eligibility rules.

This report was prepared for Filmogaz.com and published on 29 March 2026.