Femininity tests raise controversy in the Olympics

South African runner Caster Semenya, who won gold in the 800m race at the Olympic Games twice, said on Sunday that the International Olympic Committee’s decision to reintroduce genetic tests to determine femininity starting from the 2028 Los Angeles Games constitutes a “lack of respect for women.”

The former athlete, who was classified as hyperandrogenous, expressed her disappointment that the decision was made under the leadership of Zimbabwe's new IOC president, Christy Coventry.

She said during a press conference in Cape Town on the sidelines of sports competitions: “For me personally, and since she is a woman from Africa and knows the extent to which African women and women of the Global South are affected by this issue, of course this causes harm.”

Nearly thirty years after abandoning them, the International Olympic Committee announced the return of these tests, which practically means excluding transgender athletes and a large portion of intersex athletes from the women’s category in the Los Angeles 2028 Games.

The International Olympic Committee had previously adopted chromosomal tests to determine femininity between 1968 and the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, before abandoning them in 1999 under pressure from the scientific community questioning their femininity, and after the objection of its Athletes Committee.

"It ended up being a failure. That's why it was abandoned," Semenya said.

“As a woman, why do you have to be tested to prove that you are in the right place?” she asked, adding: “It's like we now have to prove that we, women, deserve to participate in sports. It's a lack of respect towards women.”

Semenya has become a symbol of the struggle of female athletes with hyperandrogenism. She has fought a long battle to defend her rights since her first world title in the 800m race in 2009 in Berlin, both on the track and in the corridors of the courts.

Reviving femininity tests will avoid the International Olympic Committee a potential clash with US President Donald Trump, host of the Los Angeles 2028 Games, who had banned transgender athletes from participating in women's sports immediately upon his return to the White House in 2025.

However, although Washington may welcome this step, many warnings have been issued over the past months by scientists, UN rapporteurs, lawyers, and human rights organizations, warning against the return of genetic testing to sports.