Dylan Bettencourt
Namibian Christine Mboma claimed the silver medal in the women’s 200m after she was barred from competing in the 400m event.
At the age of 18, Mboma’s performance sparked controversy as she defeated favourites such as Gabrielle Thomas. The teenager’s time of just 21.81 was the fastest run by a teenager in Olympics history.
It was a performance Mboma hailed as the ‘best race’ of her life.
Mboma was barred from competing in the 400m at the Tokyo Olympics due to restrictions that govern women with the rare genetic condition that naturally produces high levels of testosterone.
Some were opposed to her being allowed to compete in the 200m if she could not compete in the 400m, but World Athletics defended their rules.
The governing body’s ruling does not restrict athletes who have naturally high testosterone levels – it restricts intersex athletes with a disorder of sexual development known as 46, XY DSD.
Women who have this disorder will have an X and a Y chromosome in each cell which is the typical male pattern for genetics which causes them to have higher levels of testosterone.
The Namibian was allowed to compete because the World Athletics regulations only govern events from 400m up to 1,500m. South African Caster Semenya who won gold in the 800m in both 2012 and 2016 was also barred from competing in Tokyo due to high levels of testosterone.
Mboma’s coach was visibly emotional when she crossed the line. Speaking of his admiration for the athlete, Henk Botha said: “The girls and I always pray together before a race, and we did so again before the final. I was just so emotional and thankful.”
Mboma won her nation’s first medal since 1996 in a performance that shocked the world and will continue to spark controversial debates.
Image source: @TheHindu
