Caster Semenya is eligible for Commonwealth Games: Sebastian Coe

Caster Semenya and Sebastian Coe

Caster Semenya, who will make her first appearance in a world championships in five years when she competes in the women's 5000m in Eugene, has every right to be there, World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said on Tuesday. "She's eligible to be here," Coe said.

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The South African last competed at a Qorld Championships in London in 2017 where she won her third 800m world crown. A year later she won double gold in the 800m and 1500m at the Commonwealth Games which was the last time she represented SA in a global competition. Semenya was forced to switch from her favoured distance to the longer event due to gender eligibility rules that required her to take testosterone-reducing drugs to compete in races between 400m to a mile. World Athletics bars women athletes with high testosterone levels from competing in shorter races because the governing body says the hormone increases muscle mass and oxygen uptake.

Semenya, who became a World Champion at the bright, young age of 18 in Berlin in 2009, has made several unsuccessful legal attempts to overturn the IAAF ruling.

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