In a precedent-setting decision, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has ruled that Dutee Chand, a 19-year-old Indian sprinter, is immediately and unconditionally eligible to compete after being barred from competition because sports officials had deemed her natural testosterone levels too high.
Davies, with a team including partner James Bunting, Carlos Sayao and Justice Morris Fish, successfully represented Ms. Chand, pro bono, before the CAS.
Prior to this decision, an International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) regulation required female athletes with naturally occurring elevated testosterone levels to be suspended or banned outright from competition unless they underwent medical intervention to lower their testosterone levels.
The CAS has given the IAAF two years to present convincing evidence that naturally high testosterone levels provide an unfair advantage for hyperandrogenic female athletes over their peers. If the organization does not, or cannot, do so, its Hyperandrogenism Regulation will be rendered null and void.
According to Mr. Bunting, the CAS ruling could have broad repercussions across sport: "The decision should have far-reaching consequences around the globe as numerous other sports organizations have adopted the same or similar hyperandrogenism policies, including the International Olympic Committee."
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