Santhi Soundarajan (also spelled Shanthi Soundararajan, born 17 April 1981) is a track and field athlete from Tamil Nadu, India.

She was stripped of her silver medal won at the 2006 Asian Games after failing a sex verification test which disputed her eligibility to participate in the women's competition.

This win led to Santhi becoming embroiled in an ongoing, unresolved debate over what makes an athlete eligible to compete in the women's division.

Santhi won a silver medal in the women's 800m race at the 2006 Asian Games held in Doha, Qatar clocking 2 minutes, 3.16 seconds.

[10] Five days after the news report, Santhi says, she received a call from Lalit Bhanot, a former joint secretary of the Indian Olympic Association.

[15][16] In January 2007, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi awarded Santhi a television set and a cash prize of Rs.

on 30 April 2014 she became a qualified athletics coach, being awarded the NIS diploma certificate at the Sports Authority of India graduation ceremony in Bangalore.

"[2] Santhi told the BBC Tamil Service that the Indian authorities had not fought her case after she was stripped of her silver medal at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha.

[3][26] On 29 July 2015, the Madras High Court directed the State government to consider Santhi's plea for relaxation in educational qualifications and help her become a coach at the Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu (SDATN).

As per the notification issued by the Youth Welfare and Sports Development in April 2015, an applicant contesting for the post of the coach should have an education qualification of a bachelor's degree and Santhi did not have one.

[27] On 27 September 2016 the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) served a notice on the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports in response to a petition filed by Santhi.

[28][29] On 16 October 2016 Santhi was informed that the State government decided to appoint her as a permanent athletic coach under Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu.

He also stated that the Tamil Nadu Government will write to SAI, Indian Olympic Association and Athletics Federation of India to take up Santhi's case in that forum.

[30] Santhi received her appointment order for a permanent athletic coach under SDAT on 20 December 2016 from Tamil Nadu Sports Minister K. Pandiarajan at the Fort St. George, India.

She also expressed her dismay at the lack of sensitivity in the handling of the Dutee Chand issue, fearing that the young athlete's future may have now been jeopardized.

Kalra, Kulshreshtha and Unnikrishnan, writing in the Indian Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism in 2012, stated that "Chromosomal sex, used to disqualify Santhi in 2010, is not mentioned at all in the current guidelines.

"[41] Immediately prior to the 2016 Olympic Games and in response to sex verification controversies, Genel, Simpson and de la Chapelle in the Journal of the American Medical Association stated "One of the fundamental recommendations published almost 25 years ago ... that athletes born with a disorder of sex development and raised as females be allowed to compete as women remains appropriate".