CAS SUSPENDS
IAAF’S HYPERANDROGENISM REGULATIONS
In 2004 I produced a paper: http://www.123hjemmeside.dk/GENDER_TESTING/19174884
in which I presented a survey of the history of GENDER TESTING/SEX TESTING in international athletics.
It all started in 1966 at the European Championships in Budapest, where the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) introduced
“gender verification” by requiring that all female athletes should parade naked in front of a panel of physicians.
Ever since, a number of “scientific” methods of gender verification have been introduced, only to be abandoned
again after some time, because they were found to be based completely on inadequate, unscientific and inconclusive grounds.
However, having endorsed this failed policy for so many years, the IAAF desperately fought to keep up appearances with
the President Lamin Diack and the chairman of the IAAF Medical Committee Arne Ljungquist at the forefront.
At the IAAF world congress in 2005 I had prepared a proposal concerning this issue but it was sabotaged on beforehand by the IAAF and at the congress
I was denied my right of speech: http://www.123hjemmeside.dk/GENDER_TESTING/19174889
At the “Play the Game”
conference 2011 I made a speech on this subject, which I concluded by asking Arne Ljungquist, who was sitting on the panel with me, to step down from his position (now) as chairman of the Medical Commission of the International Olympic Committee (IOC):
http://www.123hjemmeside.dk/GENDER_TESTING/19174898
After the terrible case of Caster Semenya, which ended in complete
disaster for the IAAF, they desperately tried to come up with yet another method of gender verification, that was “The hyperandrogenism Regulations” which have now been suspended by The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
The IAAF
has now a maximum of two years to come up with an ironclad, scientific proof that these regulations, which they have established with the assistance of “experts” from all over the world, can be used the way the IAAF claims.
So the
never ending story has not finished, but in my experience, and humble opinion, this is just another nail in the coffin of the IAAF and that of the IOC that has been behind this all the way.
The CAS decision comes shortly after
the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario accepted Canadian cyclist Kristen Worley’s case against the same regulations, on 14 July. You can read more about her case in this EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with the Sports Integrity Initiative by clicking here.
Tribunal Arbitral du Sport
Court of Arbitration for Sport
MEDIA RELEASE
ATHLETICS
CAS SUSPENDS THE IAAF HYPERANDROGENISM REGULATIONS
Lausanne, 27 July 2015 - The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has issued an Interim Award in the arbitration procedure between the Indian athlete Dutee Chand, the Athletics Federation of India
(AFI) and the International Association
of Athletics Federations (IAAF).
The CAS Panel in charge of the procedure (The Hon. Justice Annabelle Claire Bennett AO, Australia (President), Prof. Richard H. McLaren, Canada, and Dr Hans Nater, Switzerland) has suspended the “IAAF Regulation
Governing Eligibility of Females with Hyperandrogenism to Compete in Women’s Competition” (the “Hyperandrogenism Regulations”) for a maximum period of two years in order to give the IAAF the opportunity to provide the CAS with scientific
evidence about the quantitative relationship between enhanced testosterone levels and improved athletic performance in hyperandrogenic athletes.
In the absence of such evidence, the CAS Panel was 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.
While the Hyperandrogenism Regulations are suspended, Ms Dutee Chand is permitted to compete in both
national and international level athletics events. Should the IAAF not file any scientific evidence within the two-year period granted by the CAS Panel, the Hyperandrogenism Regulations will be declared void.
The Interim Award is published in
full on the CAS website:
www.tas-cas.org/en/jurisprudence/recentdecisions
Georg Facius
30th July 2015
P.S. It appears that Arne
Ljungquist has been replaced as chairman of the IOC Medical and Scientific Commission, and that he has left the commission entirely!!