The detailed order of the Court of Arbitration of Sports (CAS) in the Dutee Chand case has brought to light the way Hyperandrogenism Regulations of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) were confused with ‘gender testing’ by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI).
The case which raised “complex legal, scientific, factual and ethical issues” might prove to be an eye opener for the AFI following the CAS verdict.
According to the factual background provided by CAS, Dutee claimed that a highly-placed official of the AFI asked her to undergo a “routine doping test” on June 26, 2014. The next day she met the chairperson of the AFI Medical Commission, Dr. Arun Mendiratta, who “told her that the AFI was creating a ‘high performance profile’ and therefore they needed to conduct a routine medical examination to check if she had any diseases.”
The athlete claimed that she was told that because no nurses were available to conduct a blood test she would need to go through ultrasound examination instead.
The AFI told CAS that Dutee and another athlete “underwent ultrasound examinations in Delhi after they had complained of chronic abdominal pains.”
“Dr. Mendiratta said that in June 2014 several participants at the National Inter-State Athletics Championships had expressed concern to the AFI about Dutee’s appearance and questioned whether she should be permitted to compete in female athletics events. He, however, denied that the medical examination in Delhi had anything to do with investigating the athlete’s sex or gender or testing for possible androgenism.”
However, an AFI letter, titled ‘Gender Verification Test,’ from AFI Secretary C.K. Valson on June 30, 2014 to the Sports Authority of India (SAI) said, “there are definite doubts regarding the gender of Dutee.”
“As is aware (sic) that in the previous past also such cases of Female Hyperandrogenism (sic) have brought embarrassment to the fair name of sports in India,” the letter said.
The letter suggested that since the AFI was “unable to identify any suitable female Nodal officer” as required by the Standard Operating Procedure (set by the Union Sports Ministry), the SAI could perform a “gender verification test.”
It is noteworthy that the IAAF Hyperandrogenism Regulations, which were enacted in 2011, replaced the previous Gender Verification Policy and “the IAAF has now abandoned all reference to the terminology ‘gender verification’ and ‘gender policy’ in its rules.”
The confusion in the AFI and SAI made Dutee travel to Bangalore and undergo a series of other tests by a SAI doctor before being barred from taking part in national and international competitions.
The whole episode, which brought a lot of embarrassment for the athlete with people questioning Dutee’s identity, exposed the lack of clarity about hyperandrogenism in the AFI and the poor handling of the whole issue.
