Gregory Nott — Caster Simenya's lawyer chats about her landmark legal victory

What an amazing day of sports for South Africa. Just as the golden adage, "It's not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog", suggests, there's certainly no greater testament to what Caster Semenya has endured in her life and career. Another wisdom saying that perfectly describes this phenomenal individual: Simple one, never give up. And never did she because this champion runner today won a potentially landmark legal victory when the European Court of Human Rights decided she was discriminated against by sports rules that force her to
medically reduce her natural hormone levels to compete in major competitions. The ruling by the Strasbourg, France-based court questioned the “validity” of the contentious international athletics regulations in that they infringed Semenya’s human rights. But the two-time Olympic champion’s first legal success after two failed appeals in sports’ highest court and the Swiss supreme-court came with a major caveat. Amid her bid to be allowed to run again without restriction and go for another gold at next year’s Olympics in Paris, today's judgment, while major, did not immediately result in the rules being dropped. Semenya has a medical condition known as hyperandrogenism, which is characterised by higher than usual levels of testosterone, a hormone that increases muscle mass, strength and haemoglobin, which affects endurance. Victory for Caster is a victory for many who are voiceless. Let's chat more on this groundbreaking story with...