Journal admits Semenya may have been hard done by

As if Caster Semenya hasn’t been through enough.

Now, it looks as though she may have been excluded from the Tokyo Olympics – probably her last chance at Games
glory – because of sloppy science.

The British Journal of Sports Medicine now admits that research done into female athletes with high levels of naturally occurring testosterone might be misleading because the study was “exploratory”.

Based on that “evidence”, in 2017 World Athletics banned such athletes from competing in track events between 400m and the mile unless they medically reduced their testosterone.

Semenya and her legal team have been fighting the policy, so far without success.

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It meant that she was excluded from taking part in the 800m, an event she won at the previous Games and in which she would have been a strong medal prospect at Tokyo.

It is too late now for Semenya, which is a tragedy for an athlete who might one day be regarded as one of the standout female runners of her generation.

But we hope that she and her team continue to fight the policy and have it overturned.

These high testosterone levels are natural, and to deny and punish those who have them is to punish humanity itself.