Christine Mboma was the undisputed favorite for the Olympic victory over 400 meters in Tokyo.
In 48.54 seconds, the eighteen-year-old from Namibia ran the best time of the year on the stadium lap in Bydgoszcz in Poland last week and undercut Shanae Miller-Uibo (Bahamas) 'best time by 54 hundredths of a second;
of course that was also a junior world record.
Michael Reinsch
Correspondent for sports in Berlin.
Follow I follow
Now she and her training partner Beatrice Masilingi, who is also eighteen years old, have been excluded from the middle distance in Bydgoszcz after 49.53 seconds and thus third fastest in the world.
The National Olympic Committee of Namibia announced that blood tests had shown that the natural testosterone value of the two runners was above five nanomoles per liter.
Like Caster Semenya, the two-time Olympic champion and three-time world champion over 800 meters, they are excluded from races over distances of 400 meters to the mile unless they are willing to lower their testosterone levels with medication or surgery.
Caster Semenya is suing the European Court of Human Rights against this rule.
“There is no justice in the world.
Quite a few people in Africa believe that this rule only applies to Africa ", commented Henk Botha, the coach of the two:" For me they are girls. "
This means that the fastest 400-meter runners in the world will be missing in Tokyo.
Olympic champion Shanae Miller-Uibo wants to concentrate on the 200 meters.
World champion Salwa Eid Naser, who competes for Bahrain, has been banned for two years because of too many missed doping tests.