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Fox News Reporter Falsely Calls Olympic Champion Caster Semenya Transgender

Olympic champion lost her lawsuit against IAAF just hours ago.

Fox News reporter Carley Shimkus inaccurately labeled Olympic champion runner Caster Semenya as transgender, according to a clip spotted Wednesday by Media Matters. “A transgender Olympic runner loses her court appeal about testosterone levels in female athletes,” Shimkus said on Fox & Friends, with a chryon reading “transgender runner loses court appeal.” In reality, the South African middle-distance runner identifies as a female and has naturally high levels of testosterone that some say have alleged give her an unfair athletic advantage. Early Wednesday, she lost her lawsuit against track and field’s governing body, and will now be required to take medication to lower her testosterone levels if she wishes to compete further.

UPDATE: Shimkus corrected herself Thursday morning, saying on-air: “Yesterday we told you about South African Olympic champion runner Caster Semenya and her court battle over testosterone levels in females. In that story we said she was transgender. She is not. We apologize for that error.”

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