IAAF lawyers are expected to argue that Caster Semenya is a "biological male."GETTY IMAGES
The IAAF's lawyers will next week tell a court that Olympic women's 800m champion Caster Semenya should be classified as female but is also a "biological male," according to the LONDON TIMES. The five-day hearing at the Court of Arbitration of Sport "is seen as a landmark case" surrounding athletes with "differences of sexual development" (DSD), and is also "likely to have an influence on the rules surrounding transgender athletes taking part in women’s competition." The case is also "extremely sensitive and potentially highly divisive." The IAAF’s lawyers will reportedly argue that the 28-year-old South African -- and "other runners with a similar DSD who have testes" -- should be "classified as biologically male, but who should be permitted to identify as female and to compete in women’s races" if, as transgender athletes do, "they take testosterone suppressants." Jonathan Taylor, the IAAF’s London-based lawyer from law firm Bird & Bird, said that if the case went against the athletics body, "then it would be a serious blow to women athletes with normal female levels of testosterone," which are on average 15 times lower than the normal male range (LONDON TIMES, 2/13).
