CHENNAI: July 27, 2015. Dutee Chand would have been forgiven for assuming that her troubles were finally behind her on that day. On that day, the weaver’s daughter from a tiny village in Odisha had beat a global behemoth. She had been the subject of much international attention, after she chose to take on the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) over their ‘hyperandrogenism’ rules.
According to the regulations, her body is producing more testosterone and the IAAF believed this was giving her unfair advantage during competitions. But on July 27 two years ago Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) set aside the case and cleared her to compete. It asked the IAAF to conduct further studies and confirm if this would indeed give athletes like Dutee unfair advantage. Now her two years are up and Dutee is facing an uncertain future again. The IAAF is going back with ‘fresh evidence’ — a study conducted by Stephane Bermon and Pierre-Yves Garnier and published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, that concludes that high testosterone levels give a ‘significant competitive advantage’ to female athletes.
The case though is not expected to reach a conclusion before the World Championships in London this August.The development couldn’t come at a worse time for Dutee. She is preparing for the Asian Athletics Championship that will begin on Wednesday on her home turf in Bhubaneswar. She will compete in three events — 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay. Given that she became the first Indian woman to qualify for a 100m race in the Rio Olympics last year, a slot in the World Championships next month is not an aim too lofty.
Her coach N Ramesh though says that the current development will be no distraction to his ward. “We are not bothered about all that,” he told Express. “She is only focussed on the championships right now, there is nothing else on her mind. Our legal team will take care of the rest.”
Meet to be declared open
The 22nd Asian Athletics Championships will be declared open amidst much fanfare at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday. Gracing the inauguration ceremony will be dignitaries like IAAF president Sebastian Coe and Asian Athletics Association president Dahlan Al-Hamad. More than 800 athletes from 44 countries will participate in 42 track and field events. The Odisha state government has declared a half-day holiday on Wednesday for the inaugural ceremony.
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The article Serum androgen levels and their relation to performance in track and field is part of the evidence that the IAAF is preparing for its return to CAS. The study describes and characterises serum androgen levels and studies their possible influence on performance.
— IAAF press release