GOLD COAST – With so much support coming Caster Semenya's way after she lost her controversial case against the IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations), the South African has another influential organisation determined to back her all the way.
Commonwealth Games Federation (GGF) chief executive David Grevemberg has said that his organisation had written to the IAAF with the view to holding discussions with the governing body over their differences in sexual development (DSD) regulations.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled in favour of the IAAF in its landmark legal case against South African double Olympic champion Semenya earlier this month.
In an exclusive interview with the website insidethegames.biz, Grevemberg said the CGF had an interest in the welfare of all athletes.
The IAAF decision means Semenya and other affected athletes will have to take medication to reduce their testosterone if they want to continue running on the world stage at events between 400 metres and a mile.
The legal team of the 28-year-old has long argued that the testosterone in her body is naturally occurring the ban on her is unjust.
With the Court of Arbitration (CAS) backing the IAAF decision, Grevemberg says the CGF are determined to find out the potential implications so that his organisation can get a better understanding of the facts.
Grevemberg added that the decision to write to the IAAF came after the CGF had received questions from members.
Semenya was the star in both the women's 800m and 1 500m in Australia last year when Gold Coast hosted the event.
The South African set a Games record time of 4min 0.71sec in the 1 500m at the Games before setting a mark of 1:56.68 to win the 800m.
Grevemberg told insidethegames during the SportAccord Summit, which has just ended in the Gold Coast, that the CGF had written to the IAAF as Semenya holds Commonwealth records and want more details into what went into the testosterone decision.
He said the CGF wanted to further explore how this regulation change fits within its scope of responsibilities.