Double Olympic champion Caster Semenya has been treated more harshly than drug cheats by athletics’ governing body, says British Olympian Eilidh Doyle.

It follows a World Athletics rule change, implemented last year, relating to athletes with differences of sexual development (DSD).

“I feel so sorry for her,” said Doyle.

“There are a lot of things that were done wrong with that. Caster Semenya was treated very poorly.

“I think athletics has bigger challenges and that’s where we need to be pushing. There are drugs cheats in our sport who are treated a lot better, who purposefully take things to cheat.”

Doyle, who aims to compete in the 400m hurdles and 4x400m relay at Tokyo next year – her third Olympics – is calling for a lifetime ban for doping offences.

Currently, first offences carry a maximum four-year suspension for athletes.

“There needs to be a big enough deterrent that the risk is far too big to take,” the 33-year-old told Fair Play: The Women in Sport podcast.

“If you’re caught taking a performance-enhancing drug, that’s it, you’re banned from your sport. It needs something hard hitting with credibility to make sure athletes who are perhaps maybe tempted to cheat definitely don’t.

“I love my sport but I hear people talk about it and they just assume anyone who does an amazing performance, they must be a cheat. There’s this black cloud over it.”

You can hear the full interview on Fair Play: The Women in Sport Show podcast, which is released on Thursday