Published on : 02/07/2021 – 13:53
Thunderclap for Namibia. This Friday, July 2, a statement from the Namibian Olympic Committee indicates that Christine Mboma and Beatrice Masilingi have a testosterone level too high to be able to run over 400 m at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
The two girls are no longer on the World Athletics Federation’s list of athletes able to compete in the 400m at the Tokyo Olympics. They have a natural level of testosterone too high to compete in the 400m, according to the criteria used by World Athletics since 2019. This was indicated on Friday morning by the Namibian Olympic Committee (NNOC) in a press release.
« The NNOC and our Medical Director are in close contact with Dr Stéphane Bermon, Medical Director of World Athletics to adopt the best attitude regarding our two sprinters. We are confident in their future as elite athletes. What is happening should not be seen negatively, but as a new challenge […] », Writes the Namibian Olympic Committee.
In the same situation as Caster Semenya
The NNOC clarifies that World Athletics has requested that the two athletes pass medical tests, they were tested in Italy near their training camp. ” The results of these tests indicate that they both have naturally high testosterone levels. Due to World Athletics regulations, they will not be able to compete in the 400m per mile events. », Indicates the press release.
While the Olympics are fast approaching, Mboma and Masilingi therefore find themselves in the same situation as Caster Semenya and other athletes, such as Burundian Francine Niyonsaba or Nigerian Aminatou Seyni, presenting differences in sexual development (DSD), forced to undergo medical treatment
or to change the distance. The joint coach of Mboma and Masilingi, Henk Botha, for his part explained to the local daily The Namibian that his athletes were going ” fully concentrate on the 200m of the Olympics
And that discussions with the International Federation would resume after Tokyo. On the 200m, the two Namibians are however far from the best in the world.
Christine Mboma, 7th best performer of all time
Christine Mboma, who has just celebrated her 18th birthday, had clocked an incredible time of 48 sec 54 over 400m on Wednesday June 30 at the Bydgoszcz meeting in Poland, becoming the 7th best performer of all time. The young Namibian, unknown before this season, had improved her own junior world record which dated from April (49 sec 22). She pushed back Polish European champion Justyna Swiety-Ersetic to more than three seconds. Mboma had achieved by far the best world performance of the year and was the big favorite of the Tokyo Olympics.
Indeed, only two athletes still active have already run faster: the Bahamian Shaunae Miller-Uibo, reigning Olympic champion, should focus in Tokyo on the 200m, and the Bahraini world champion Salwa Eid Nasr has just been suspended for two years for breach of anti-doping rules.
JO 2020
