Annet Negesa

Annet Negesa (born 24 April 1992) is a Ugandan former middle-distance runner who specialised in the 800 metres. She broke Ugandan national records in the 800 m and the 1500 metres as a teenager and was a three-time national champion at the Ugandan Athletics Championships. She represented her country at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics and was the 800 m gold medallist at the 2011 All-Africa Games. As a junior (under-20) athlete, she won a team bronze medal at the 2010 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, an 800 m bronze at the 2010 World Junior Championships in Athletics, and two gold medals at the 2011 African Junior Athletics Championships. She was named 2011 Athlete of the Year by Uganda Athletics Federation.

Negesa has an XY disorder of sex development and a natural testosterone level in the male range. Under rules set by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), she had to reduce her testosterone levels in order to compete in the women's category. Facing pressure to continue her career, she underwent a gonadectomy, a procedure to remove internal testes in 2012. Negesa later said the purpose of the surgery had been misrepresented to her, having been compared to an "injection". The inadequate medical aftercare and physical and mental damage resulting from the surgery effectively ended her career. She returned to the track at the 2017 Ugandan Championships but completed the 1500 metres in 5:06.18 – nearly a minute below her best and a time which ranked her as a club level runner rather than an elite athlete.

While the IAAF denied recommending or paying for the surgery, Negesa's case fueled controversy over the treatment of athletes with differences in sex development. In 2019, the German government granted her asylum. She was one of the athletes whose cases were profiled in Phyllis Ellis's 2022 documentary film Category: Woman.

International competitions

National titles

• Ugandan Athletics Championships 800 m: 2011 1500 m: 2009, 2011

See also

• List of Young Achievers Award winners
• List of African Games medalists in athletics (women)

External links

• at World Athletics
• on YouTube