Caster Semenya has won many titles in her running career: two-time Olympic champion, two-time World Champion, winner of the Commonwealth Games, African Games and the African Cup. She is the queen of the middle distance.

But she has also come up with a lot of other titles: "The Hunted", "The Persecuted", "Who came out of hell", for a few, the word athletics is divided into its two components as much as for the now 28-year-old South African. Athletics in any case - but the years were certainly not for Semenya.

The so-called case Semenya, which is now decided before the International Sports Court - there is, since the athlete emerged ten years ago as an 18 -year-old at the World Cup in Berlin and won from nothing gold over 800 meters, the competition in the ground constantly. And when the world press was curiously waiting for the subsequent press conference, wanting to know who this many unknown young woman was, instead of Semenya, General Secretary of the World Federation IAAF turned up Pierre Weiss and said there was some doubt "if this lady is a woman" ,

For ten years the federation wrestles for answers

Since then, the suspicion with. The uncertainty and mistrust take their place in the starting blocks next to her. And organized sports have a perfect opportunity to prove how overwhelmed he is with such a topic. What if athletes are hyperandrogenic, so if they have so much testosterone in their body that they can do sports that are reminiscent of men? What about equality, what about physical integrity? And what about the dignity? Important questions, tricky questions too. But also questions on which the association has found no sustainable answers in ten years.

When, shortly after the Berlin Run, it transpired that doctors on behalf of the IAAF had already examined Semenya to see if the lady was a woman or not, the fronts formed and are still there today. On the one hand, the South African officials and the public in their homeland, who are almost insulted to any doubt, defend Semenya with all outrage rhetoric. There were also words from the "Third World War", the IAAF was subordinated to racism. Semenya is a superstar in South Africa, everyone knows their name, Semenya's village Ga-Masehlong in the northern province of Limpopo is likely to be the most famous village in South Africa. The officials need their medals, unless they do not shine much in South African athletics.

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Victory last year at the Commonwealth Games

On the other side is the World Association, which has tried many times to introduce rules to either completely exclude or at least force runners with high levels of male hormones, such as Semenya, to lower their testosterone balance through medication. The IAAF has the backing of many other associations - which is no wonder, after all, the associations of other countries do not want their athletes always running after Semenya.

As if it were a gynecological practice

In the midst of this fundamental dispute is a runner who has been listening to high-level questions for ten years, as if a press conference was a gynecology practice. "Are you a woman? Do you feel like a man?" One can imagine how much this has overrun an 18-year-old. In the meantime, Semenya has had to learn with the questions suspected of living with. However, she has made little secret of her hurtness.

"Of course, I want to run the same way I was born, it's not fair to be dictated to who I am," she said in her written statement, explaining why she was taking legal action against the World Federation's rules. She added, "I'm Mokgadi Caster Semenya - I'm a woman and I'm fast."

Anja Niedringhaus AP

Her first big triumph: World Cup gold in Berlin

She has always been fast in the past ten years - but at different speeds. She has had her best times in those years when the association has not put any restrictive measures in her way. Their bests over 400 meters, 800 meters, 1000 meters and 1500 meters all come from the previous year - when the IAAF had ever introduced testosterone limits, it was much slower. At that time, however, she had to recover from a knee operation - a proof that Semenya only dominates if she can play her testosterone, so that's not it.

At the February hearing in front of the Cas, Semenya presented herself with self-assurance, she pointedly made the victory sign, she's no longer the one she used to think she's being exploited from two angles: the South Africans, the Semenya's successes and the association that invades its privacy to save its rules. The runner disappeared behind it.

In the Semenya Cause, the comparison with other athletes like swimmer Michael Phelps or sprinter Usain Bolt has often been drawn. By pointing out that both had advantages in terms of their anatomy, no one came up with the idea of ​​imposing or imposing restrictions on them. Is it fair to do that at Semenya? The runner has repeatedly stated: "I want to go on the track and do what I do best. If it were that easy.