LAUSANNE, Switzerland — Caster Semenya won an interim ruling in her battle against the IAAF and its testosterone regulations when the Swiss supreme court ordered athletics’ governing body to suspend the rules on Monday.
The freezing of the rules allows the two-time Olympic champion from South Africa to run in her favorite 800-meter event without taking any hormone-suppressing medication, although the temporary ruling can be challenged by the IAAF.
Semenya’s lawyers said there will be another decision by the supreme court after the IAAF makes its arguments to the court that the rules should stand. No date was given for that hearing but it could happen as early as this month, Semenya’s South Africa-based lawyer, Greg Nott, said.
The temporary suspension of the rules comes after the 28-year-old Semenya last week filed an appeal to the Swiss supreme court asking for the testosterone limits in female events to be removed completely.
The full appeal against a decision by the Court of Arbiitration for Sport could take up to a year or more to be heard by the supreme court, which is also known as the Swiss Federal Tribunal.
That full appeal will be heard by a panel of Swiss federal judges.
“I am thankful to the Swiss judges for this decision,” Semenya said in a statement. “I hope that following my appeal I will once again be able to run free.”
CONCORD — A federal judge ruled on Monday that a law prohibiting interstate wagering applies only to sports gambling, setting aside a Justice Department opinion that some states feared would make online lottery activities illegal and put the programs they fund at risk.
Judge Paul Barbadoro’s ruling comes in response to a suit filed by the New Hampshire Lottery Commission, which said a Justice Department opinion issued last year subjects its employees to prosecution, creates uncertainty about whether it should cease operations and could cost the state more than $90 million a year.
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Jason Dufner is going back to the U.S. Open for the 10th straight year, and this time he had to play his way in through one of 10 qualifiers across three countries in the longest day on the golf calendar.
Luke Guthrie took a detour from the Web.com Tour on Monday and led the 14 qualifiers out of Columbus, the strongest of all sectionals with so many PGA Tour players who stayed around after the Memorial. He returns to the U.S. Open for the first time in five years.
Also qualifying was Sam Saunders, whose late grandfather Arnold Palmer was among the principal owners of Pebble Beach.
Sixty spots were available on Monday to qualify for the U.S. Open, to be held June 13-16 at Pebble Beach.
BOSTON — A former women’s soccer coach at the University of Southern California is expected to plead guilty for his role in a sweeping admissions bribery scheme.
The U.S. Justice Department said Monday that 49-year-old Ali Khosroshahin of Fountain Valley, Calif., will plead guilty to conspiracy to commit racketeering as part of an agreement with prosecutors.
Khosroshahin is accused of accepting bribes to get four students designated as soccer recruits even though none played competitive soccer.
Prosecutors say a firm that orchestrated the bribes directed $350,000 to a private soccer club controlled by Khosroshahin and Laura Janke, another former USC soccer coach. Janke pleaded guilty in March.
The Justice Department is recommending a lenient sentence and says Khosroshahin is cooperating with the government’s investigation. A plea hearing has not yet been scheduled.