Caster Semenya is back, so is her sport’s thorniest problem

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — South African runner Caster Semenya’s surprise return to the world championships this week (July 18-22, 2022) coincides with a new reckoning over the rules in track and field that regulate the participation of women with high natural testosterone in female events. Semenya is a two-time Olympic champion in the 800 meters. She was banned from that event after losing her appeal of a World Athletics regulation that made women with a certain intersex condition ineligible for some races. She is not transgender, but her case carries strong implications for how transgender athletes are treated and classified. The track and field body says it will review both its rules relating to transgender women and the separate issue of women with intersex conditions like Semenya at the end of the year.