Semenya joins soccer club
Johannesburg – Two-time Olympic 800-metre champion Caster Semenya has signed for a soccer club, and may be considering giving up track and field.
Semenya, who is currently in a legal battle with the IAAF over her right to compete without taking testosterone-suppressing medication, said she has joined women’s club JVW Football Club, which is owned by Banyana captain Janine Van Wyk.
Semenya said she has joined the club and is looking forward to a new journey.
The club said Semenya began training with the team but will only play league matches next year because the window to sign new players for this season is closed.
Next year’s Tokyo Olympics are in July and August, when the women’s soccer season will be in action. Semenya didn’t directly say if she was retiring from track and field.
“I am grateful for this opportunity and I appreciate the love and support I already get from the team. I am looking forward to this new journey, and hopefully I can contribute as much as I can to the club.”
Janine van Wyk said: “I am extremely elated to have such an iconic athlete join my club. I am absolutely honoured that out of all the other women’s clubs around the world, she has chosen JVW as the club where she would like to start showcasing her football skills.”
Semenya is barred from defending her 800 title at this month’s world championships after refusing to follow IAAF rules requiring her to reduce her natural testosterone to compete.
She is appealing against those rules at the Swiss Supreme Court but faced a setback in July when the court provisionally upheld the rules, ending her ambitions to defend her title in Doha, Qatar.
The Swiss Supreme Court has not announced a final verdict in Semenya’s appeal but she appears to be thinking about life after track.
The 28-year-old Semenya is one of several elite female athletes with one of a number of conditions known as differences of sex development, which result in male and female biological characteristics.
She was legally identified as female at birth and has identified as female her whole life but was born with the typical male XY chromosome pattern, and has testosterone levels higher than the typical female range.
The IAAF says that testosterone gives her an unfair athletic advantage over other female runners and she must medically reduce it to be allowed to compete. The IAAF has argued that athletes with her condition are “biologically male,” an assertion that Semenya calls “deeply hurtful.”
Semenya is fighting for the testosterone regulations to be thrown out but lost her case at the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport earlier this year, prompting her to appeal to Switzerland’s Supreme Court.
Johannesburg – Two-time Olympic 800-metre champion Caster Semenya has signed for a soccer club, and may be considering giving up track and field.
Semenya, who is currently in a legal battle with the IAAF over her right to compete without taking testosterone-suppressing medication, said she has joined women’s club JVW Football Club, which is owned by Banyana captain Janine Van Wyk.
Semenya said she has joined the club and is looking forward to a new journey.
The club said Semenya began training with the team but will only play league matches next year because the window to sign new players for this season is closed.
Next year’s Tokyo Olympics are in July and August, when the women’s soccer season will be in action. Semenya didn’t directly say if she was retiring from track and field.
“I am grateful for this opportunity and I appreciate the love and support I already get from the team. I am looking forward to this new journey, and hopefully I can contribute as much as I can to the club.”
Janine van Wyk said: “I am extremely elated to have such an iconic athlete join my club. I am absolutely honoured that out of all the other women’s clubs around the world, she has chosen JVW as the club where she would like to start showcasing her football skills.”
Semenya is barred from defending her 800 title at this month’s world championships after refusing to follow IAAF rules requiring her to reduce her natural testosterone to compete.
She is appealing against those rules at the Swiss Supreme Court but faced a setback in July when the court provisionally upheld the rules, ending her ambitions to defend her title in Doha, Qatar.
The Swiss Supreme Court has not announced a final verdict in Semenya’s appeal but she appears to be thinking about life after track.
The 28-year-old Semenya is one of several elite female athletes with one of a number of conditions known as differences of sex development, which result in male and female biological characteristics.
She was legally identified as female at birth and has identified as female her whole life but was born with the typical male XY chromosome pattern, and has testosterone levels higher than the typical female range.
The IAAF says that testosterone gives her an unfair athletic advantage over other female runners and she must medically reduce it to be allowed to compete. The IAAF has argued that athletes with her condition are “biologically male,” an assertion that Semenya calls “deeply hurtful.”
Semenya is fighting for the testosterone regulations to be thrown out but lost her case at the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport earlier this year, prompting her to appeal to Switzerland’s Supreme Court.
