Controversial rules regarding intersex athletes, which kept Caster Semenya of South Africa from defending her title in the 800-meter run at the Tokyo Olympics, have come under renewed scrutiny as scientists have issued a correction to a study that indicated a causal connection between high testosterone levels and enhanced athletic performance among elite female athletes. The study, published in 2017, has been among the evidence used to restrict athletes with a rare genetic condition that results in elevated testosterone levels from entering certain women’s events. Semenya’s attorneys and a prominent American critic of the restrictions on Wednesday called for the regulations to be suspended, following a correction printed by the British Journal of Sports Medicine of the 2017 article, which was written by two scientists affiliated with track and field’s world governing body. The scientists acknowledged that their study indicating a pivotal relationship between high testosterone levels and enhanced athletic performance among top female athletes was “exploratory” and “could have been misleading by implying a causal inference.”

Source: International New York Times August 18, 2021 22:29 UTC