“From the moment I stepped on to the track for the final meet in Berlin on August 19, 2009, I have been vilified and persecuted. My accomplishments since have been celebrated, yes, but it is hard to think of another athlete at the elite level who has endured as much scrutiny and psychological abuse from sports governing bodies, other competitors, and the media as I have. It has affected me in ways I cannot describe, although I will try.

“I feel that the IAAF has confiscated a large part of my life. I’ve spent as much time fighting them as I have training and racing. They have stolen years of performances not only from me but also from the audience—their joy at seeing me on the track over the years, win or lose, has brought me joy. The blow of every insult hurled at me has been softened by the love and admiration of people who watch me run.

“I knew I wasn’t the same Caster. I was still nursing my injured leg and I was grossly overweight, but all I needed was a chance. The director offered me a three-year scholarship. I would study sports science. Soon after, I met with Jean in person. Even seeing how out of shape I was, he believed in me. Potch was about 180 kilometers away from Pretoria. Violet wasn’t happy about the distance, but I would no longer be sitting.

“With the help of a journalist who was also an academician in gender matters, Dutee announced she would bring a legal challenge to the IAAF’s hyperandrogenism regulations at the Court of Arbitration for Sport that winter. The case eventually went to CAS in March 2015. I was not aware of Dutee, or even aware of the IAAF’s medical study on the four young runners, until much later. The IAAF’s position was that women with high testosterone levels had an unfair advantage equal to the advantage that male athletes had over female athletes.

“The IAAF thought they could shame me off the track back in 2009, but things didn’t turn out the way they usually did. We may have lost the legal battles, but I won where it matters—I still became a champion, and the IAAF exposed their true nature. This thing is no longer about secret conversations and secret surgeries and secret medication. Now the world knows more about what they have done and what they want to continue to do.