Running News Daily

Olympic silver medalist Christine Mboma to undergo hormone therapy

Last week, World Athletics, the global governing body of track and field, announced new regulations to their DSD athletes competition policy, which requires all female athletes with differences of sexual development to reduce their testosterone to not more than 2.5 nmol/L for a minimum of 24 months to be allowed to compete internationally in the female category in any event. According to The Namibian, one such athlete who has achieved prominence, Tokyo 200m Olympic medallist Christine Mboma of Namibia, intends to undergo hormone therapy to continue her career in athletics. 

The new rule reduces the acceptable maximum testosterone limit to half of the previous limit, for twice the length of time.

In an extensive interview with The Namibian, Mboma’s coach, Henk Botha said, “We’ve had disappointments and some obstacles in the past. There’s not a lot that we can do as Namibians, we’ll have to take this one on the chin and do our best to get Christine back on the track.” 

“The one option is to stop with athletics, and the other is to go to court. Then, the third option is to reduce the levels,” said Botha. “The first two were never on our table, since we don’t have the money to go to court, and halting athletics is not something that Christine wants to do. She’s 19 and has a great career in front of her.”

The harsh alternative DSD athletes are faced with is to quit the sport altogether.

Athletics Namibia said they fully support Mboma, describing WA’s new DSD athlete requirements as “discriminatory, unfair, stigmatizing and not safeguarding all women in sport.” 

Mboma is one of five prominent DSD athletes who are or were at the top of their event in the last five years. Others are two-time Olympic 800m champion Caster Semenya, 2021 Diamond League champion and 2,000m world record holder Francine Niyonsaba, Nigeria’s Aminatou Seyni and Mboma’s Namibian compatriot, Beatrice Masilingi.

Mboma, who started her career as a 400m runner, has been forced to transition down to the 200m, due to WA limitations barring DSD athletes from racing events between the 400 and the mile.

The new rules will apply across all track events as of April 1, with all five athletes ineligible to compete under the new DSD regulations in major international competitions like the Diamond League and World Championships. All qualified athletes will be eligible for the 2024 Olympic Games provided they are able to maintain their hormone levels over the next 18 months.

Burundi’s Niyonsaba has been quiet on the World Athletics ruling, posting on her Instagram three days after the WA decision, “It’s time to build and achieve progress.” Niyonsaba took the silver medal in the women’s 800m at the Rio Olympics and has since moved up to the 5,000 and 10,000, running her first half-marathon earlier this month in Lisbon in a national record for Burundi of 68:45.

“Every athlete is built differently and has different advantages and disadvantages,” said Botha. “Instead of pointing out our differences, we should be proud that we are all different.”