CAPE TOWN (AP) — Two-time Olympic champion runner Caster Semenya on Sunday expressed her disappointment with IOC President Kirsty Coventry over the decision to ban transgender women athletes from competing in women's events at the Olympics.
Semenya, who is South African, said she expected more from a woman leader like Coventry, who is from Zimbabwe and a fellow African.
“Personally, for her as a leader, she’s an African, I’m sure she understands how, you know, we as Africans, we are coming from, as a global South, you know, you cannot control genetics,” Semenya said at a press conference after a women’s race promoted to celebrate female strength, unity and community support in Cape Town. “For me personally, for her being a woman coming from Africa, knowing how, you know, African women or women in the global South are affected by that.”
Semenya spoke three days after the International Olympic Committee excluded transgender women athletes from competing in women's events at the Olympics or any IOC event. The decision published in a 10-page policy document Thursday also restricts female athletes such as Semenya with medical conditions known as differences in sex development, or DSD.
"Obviously if you say the science, because we talk about science here, if the science is clear, show us who decided and don’t dress that as a lie because it’s a lie and we know because we’ve seen it so if we were to answer or confront Kirsty that’s how we gonna respond and we’ll respond strong as we are because it affects women,” Semenya said.
Semenya, who was assigned female at birth in South Africa and has testosterone levels higher than the typical female range, is a two-time Olympic gold medalist in the 800 meters who has been banned from running in her favorite race at major international meets like the Olympics and world championships since 2019 because she refused to follow the rules and take medication to artificially reduce her hormone levels.
“For me personally, I’ll say the voice is not heard because you taking it as a tick box, you ticking a box so you can go clarify or say yes we’ve consulted," she said. "For me, it’s you ticking the box."
Semenya and other track athletes, such as Dutee Chand of India, challenged previous versions of their sport’s eligibility rules in court.
Before the 2024 Paris Olympics, three top-tier sports — track and field, swimming and cycling — excluded transgender women who had been through male puberty. Semenya won a European Court of Human Rights judgment in her years-long legal challenge to track and field’s rules that did not overturn them.
Last year, though, she claimed to have ended her seven-year legal challenge against sex eligibility rules despite that legal victory.
The eligibility policy that will apply from the Los Angeles Olympics in July 2028 “protects fairness, safety and integrity in the female category,” the IOC said Thursday.
It is unclear how many, if any, transgender women are competing at an Olympic level. No woman who transitioned from being born male competed at the 2024 Paris Summer Games, though weightlifter Laurel Hubbard did at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 without winning a medal.
The IOC said last week's decision was not retroactive and did not apply to any grassroots or recreational sports programs. The IOC's Olympic Charter states that access to play sport is a human right.
AP Winter Olympics at https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
FILE - South Africa athlete Caster Semenya, center, answers reporters with lawyers Gregory Nott, left, and Shona Jolly KC after Semenya won a partial victory at the European Court of Human Rights on in her seven-year legal fight against track and field's sex eligibility rules, Thursday, July 10, 2025 in Strasbourg, eastern France. (AP Photo/Antonin Utz, File)
PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — Kushtrim Ajvazi is proud to be part of a successful business in one of the poorest countries in Europe. The company where he is a manager produces potato chips and other snacks that can be found in almost every shop in Kosovo and are exported abroad.
But Ajvazi's company faces unplanned challenges because of a steep rise in fuel prices caused by the war in Iran, whose ripple effects have reached this small corner of southeastern Europe.
The Pestova company has nearly 100 acres of potato fields in eastern Kosovo that are used to make the potato chips sold under the name Vipa. Both the firm and its distribution network were hit when the wholesale price of fuel rose from 1.10 euros ($1.27) to up to 1.7 euros ($1.96) per liter, Ajvazi said.
Kosovo does not have its own fuel production. The price of diesel and gasoline is determined by importers whose profit margin is capped at 12%.
Ajvazi urged the government to help ease the burden. Spring is potato planting season.
The company needs a lot of fuel so costs are "extremely high," he said. Fertilizer prices also have gone up, but the company had reserves.
“We are analyzing and calculating every additional cost, and if we see that this process of rising costs continues, we will be forced to adjust our prices," Ajvazi said.
While other countries in Balkans have put in place measures to ease the effects on farmers, Kosovo's government is yet to act. The government did not respond to questions.
Romania, Hungary and Serbia have introduced special diesel prices for farmers or lowered the state tax income.
In Kosovo, economic experts warned that the government should urgently respond in case of a further price increase, to prevent greater damage to the economy.
“There is not one sector that is not affected by the price increase," economist Safet Gerxhaliu said.
Ajvazi said his company faces additional problems because around 40% of production is exported with prearranged, fixed prices that can be changed only with a 90-day advance notice. He said it is hard to plan anything without stable prices.
“We call on the government to ease this phase for us," he said. "We are a company that exports to more than 23 different countries, including those in Europe.”
The price hike has also burdened ordinary citizens. Bardh Mehmeti, an IT professional from the capital, Pristina, said he now pays 100 euros ($115) for a full tank, up from 80 euros ($92) before the crisis. Mehmeti is now “seriously considering" ways to get an electric car.
Kosovo's economy has struggled ever since the country declared independence from Serbia in 2008 following a war. Serbia does not recognize the split, and the unresolved situation has stalled the countries in their bids to join the European Union.
Also affecting Kosovo's economic situation has been a prolonged political crisis that left the country without a fully functioning government for much of last year. The current government of Prime Minster Albin Kurti is again in a stalemate over a failure to elect a new president.
The main opposition Democratic Party has criticized what it calls government inaction and urged temporary tax cuts to help ease the burden on citizens and businesses.
Associated Press writer Jovana Gec contributed from Belgrade, Serbia.
Workers are seen at production line of Vipa Chips factory in the village of Pestove, Kosovo on March 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)
Workers at Pestova firm, inspect the potatoes for the Vipa Chips factory in the village of Pestove, Kosovo on March 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)
A worker of Pestova firm inspects the potatoes in the village of Pestove, Kosovo on March 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)
A worker of Pestova firm inspects the potatoes in the village of Pestove, Kosovo on March 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)
Farmers of Pestova firm on the back of a tractor plant potatoes in the village of Pestove, Kosovo on March 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)
