“Why we should eliminate the distinction between the Olympics and the Paralumpics”, or better: why athletes who competed with assistive technologies, such as the Paralympic long-jumper Markus Rehm, or the American 400 meter runner Blake Leeper, should be allowed to compete in the Olympics.
World Athletics current requires athletes who compete with assistive technologies to demonstrate that their assistive technology does not provide them with an unfair advantage over able-bodied athletes.
But, is this rule, fair?
There is no such upper limit on able-bodied athletes to demonstrate that they do not have an unfair advantage over other able-bodied athletes.
In my TEDx speech I argue that this rule is unfair and discriminatory, and that athletes with assistive technologies should be allowed to compete with “able-bodied” athletes when they meet the qualifying times or qualifying measures for the events.
I would cherish the opportunity to do a TEDx talk in English on this topic!
Contact me at silvia.camporesiATgmail.com to discuss TEDx opportunities.
L’11 luglio del 2023 la Corte Europea per i Diritti Umani aveva emesso la tanto attesa sentenza (dopo 2 anni e mezzo!) riguardo al caso Semenya e aveva affermato, sulla base di una decisione raggiunta con una maggioranza di 4 voti a 3, che l’atleta sudafricana era stata discriminata sulla base della violazione di tre articoli della Convenzione Europea per i Diritti Umani:
articolo 14: divieto di discriminazione,
articolo 8: diritto al rispetto della vita privata,
articolo 13: diritto a un ricorso effettivo.
Qual è il significato di questo ultimissimo colpo di scena nella vicenda di Caster Semenya, che va avanti dall’agosto del 2009?
Il significato è che si ricomincia da zero: ora toccherà alla Grand Chamber della ECHR, la camera principale, composta di 17 giudici (contro il 7 che avevano emesso la sentenza di giugno) esaminare il caso Semenya vs. Switzerland (application no. 10934/21).
Gli esiti di questa riesamina possono essere i più disparati: da una riconferma della sentenza di luglio 2023 (possibile anche con una maggioranza più netta, e con una decisione che coinvolga altri articoli della Convenzione, compreso l’articolo 3, il diritto all’integrità della persona); oppure a un ribaltamento della sentenza di discriminazione ai danni di Semenya.
È tutto da vedere. La decisione della Grand Chamber sarà quella finale.
Per saperne di più, ci sono altri 8 reel (numerati) che ripercorrono la vicenda Semenya e che puoi trovare sul mio sito personale di ricerca a questo link: https://shorturl.at/bezTZ
Seguimi sulla mia pagina instagram silviacamporesibioetica per restare aggiornato sulla questione dell’eredità culturale di Semenya per il diritto internazionale sportivo.
Delighted to be heading back to ICGEB Triest in a few days for a double appointment on Friday, November 10th.
In the afternoon, at 3 pm CET I will be delivering a seminar (in English) as part of the ICGEB International Seminar Series, with title “Bioethics and Sport: Evidence, Values and Norms underlying competition for athletes” (abstract below). It will be possible to follow the seminar in hybrid mode. If you’d like to receive the zoom link please email seminars@icgeb.org in advance of the meeting.
Abstract
There is a fundamental tension intrinsic in athletics: human sex is not binary, and there are only two categories in which people can compete: men, and women. In the late 1990s, all forms of sex testing had been abandoned by the International Olympic Committee due to some high-profile false positive cases. After a brief interval, sex testing re-emerged in 2009 with the case of South-African runner Caster Semenya, whose gold medal at the World Track & Field Championship in Berlin was revoked on suspicion of an unfair advantage derived from a “male biological make-up”. Following an investigation, in May 2011,World Athletics (WA) enacted ‘Hyperandrogenism regulations’ which require that female athletes with endogenous testosterone levels above 5 nmol/Lit take androgen suppressive therapy as a condition to compete in the female category. Since the original formulation, the WA Hyperandrogenism regulations have undergone multiple iterations, the most recent one in March 2023, and have been at the centre of three high profile legal disputes, two at the Court for Arbitration of Sport also known as the “Supreme Court for Sports” (2015; 2019), and one at the European Court of Human Rights (2023). In this talk I will provide a bioethics and sport approach to the question of unfair advantage and eligibility to compete in the female category for athletes with DSD, reviewing the evidence, values and norms underlying the World Athletics regulations to compete in the female category for athletes with DSD.
In the evening at 6 pm CET I will be presenting my book (in Italian) in conversation with the absolutely fantastic Suzanne Kerbavcic, at the LOVAT bookstore (Stabile Oviesse, V.le Venti Settembre, 20, 34125 Trieste)
Prof. Silvia Camporesi 
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