Race, Athletics, and Women’s Bodies

Photo by Braden Collum on Unsplash

The name Caster Semenya hit the news some years ago. In 2018, the World Athletics Federation implemented a new rule that required any woman competing in races from 400m to a mile to have natural testosterone level of under 5 nanomoles per liter. It used to be 10 (which is still the IOC’s limit for trans women who wish to compete).

If they want to compete, they have to take medication to lower their testosterone levels. This medication can have side effects that include low sex drive, depression, menstrual irregularity and menopause type symptoms. Semenya tried the drugs and found the side effects too much for her.

Since then, she has been fighting a legal battle to be allowed to compete.

Christine Mboma and Beatrice Masilingi

So, now we have two more names. Mboma and Masilingi are 18 year old women from Namibia who qualified for the 400-meter event…

…only to be banned over naturally high testosterone levels. Both girls will now compete in the 100 and 200 meter races, to which the rule mysteriously does not apply.

Neither of the young women knew they had elevated testosterone.

Three other distance sprinters have also been banned. Caster Semenya, Francine Niyonsaba, and Margaret Wambui were all banned from…