Sports
Namibian Teens To Fight Testosterone Ban
Namibian track and field stars Christine Mboma and Beatrice Masilingi, both aged 18, have turned in four of the top five women’s 400m times in the world this year.
They were on a fast-track to Olympic medals, but then their stellar rise came to a sudden halt.
The pair have been banned from competing in the women’s 400m race at the Tokyo Games. The reasoning: their natural testosterone levels are too high.
The teenagers were both racing at international events when they learned the news.
Christine Mboma was with the duo’s coach, Henk Botha, travelling back to their training camp in Italy. When their plane landed, Botha received a call from Namibia’s Olympic Committee relaying the news. By the time he was able to call Beatrice Masilingi, his other trainee, she had already found out from social media.
The revelation came as a shock to both athletes. Neither of them had been tested before, and they had no reason to think their hormone levels were not within the typical range.
It is not the first time female runners have faced this problem. In 2018, Caster Semenya was banned from competing after World Athletics ruled that “to ensure fair competition, women with high natural testosterone levels must take medication to reduce them to compete in middle-distance races”.
But asking someone to take medication to alter something in a body they are happy with is controversial.
“I would ruin the way my body develops because that’ll be something that rearranges everything, how my body functions and everything,” says Masilingi.
“I wouldn’t want to involve any other things because this is the way my body functions in its normal way. And if I try something else, I might get caught somewhere else, and something might go wrong with my body.”
Beatrice Masilingi is concerned about artificially changing her natural hormone balance
Testosterone is a driver of red blood cell count, and the more red blood cells a person has, the more oxygen they can carry to their muscles, allowing them to run faster for longer amounts of time.
Men typically have higher testosterone levels than women, which is one of the reasons why, on average, they outperform women in athletic competition. And if people take testosterone as a performance-enhancing drug, they will generally perform better, says Dr Richard Holt, professor in diabetes and endocrinology at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Southampton.
Research shows, however, that if you take a group of elite male athletes, all with varying testosterone levels, the ones with higher levels of the hormone do not necessarily perform better than those males with lower levels.
Dr Holt says the same is true of elite female athletes, which is why testosterone cannot be the whole story when it comes to athletic performance.
“There are a number of genetic polymorphisms, slight changes in the genes, that will actually determine whether somebody has that innate ability to be able to compete at the elite level,” he explains.
The problem, though, is where to draw the line between a testosterone advantage and other natural, genetic advantages.
, The author of Sporting Gender, Joanna Harper argues: “If you’re going to pick one advantage to separate the two categories [female and male], you want to pick an advantage that one group has that the other doesn’t. And you pick a biomarker that is widely divergent in the two groups.”
There had to be a line of demarcation at some point, and unfortunately Mboma and Masilingi were on the wrong side.
Harper, a transgender athlete herself, says: “It’s not an elegant solution by any stretch of the imagination, but it places fairly minimal restrictions on people… It’s not elegant, but it’s not, to my mind, horribly unreasonable either.”
Kenyan runner Margaret Wambui says athletics needs a third category beyond men and women.
World Athletics does not attempt to argue that Mboma and Masilingi, and other female athletes with high testosterone levels, are not women.
“We are committed to fairness for women in sport and reject any allegation that biological limits in the female category are based on race or gender stereotypes,” they told Tidesports source in a written statement.
“On the contrary, they provide an objective and scientific measure to define the female category, and are a necessary, reasonable and proportionate means of attaining what both the Court of Arbitration for Sport and the Swiss Federation Tribunal agreed was a legitimate objective.”
But for these two teenagers, a legal ruling on their womanhood is very personal.
“We all come from different areas and are raised differently. It’s just different. We are all created differently, with different purposes. So you can’t compare me with someone else. It’s really unfair,” says Masilingi.
As of now, the young women are not going to take legal action against World Athletics, but they will fight for their right to race.
“We won’t be quiet,” Masilingi concludes. “I’ll say the support system is very strong at the moment. There is a lot of it going on… It’s all over the world and seeing people against this rule and everything, which really means a lot. The love, the coaches, and everyone, it’s just good.”
Tottenham fought back from two-goals down to secure a deserved point against Brighton.
The Seagulls were second best for much of the match but found themselves 2-0 up after 31 minutes thanks to Yankuba Minteh’s early strike and Yasin Ayari’s powerful drive.
However, Richarlison halved the deficit just before half-time when he stopped a shot by Mohammed Kudus before slotting in.
Spurs dominated the second half but their finishing let them down as Richarlison and substitute Xavi Simons were both unable to make the most of promising opportunities.
But the equaliser came eight minutes from time when Jan Paul van Hecke turned Kudus’ cross into his own net.
Spurs then pushed for a winner as they looked to continue their impressive start to the season, but Brighton held on for the point.
Bundesliga: Kane Continues Goal Harvest (5)
Harry Kane scored his second hat-trick of the season as Bayern Munich overcame a shaky start to win at Hoffenheim and continue their 100% start.
The England captain, 32, broke the deadlock on the stroke of half-time with a clinical first-time finish from a cleverly worked low corner, and doubled Bayern’s lead from the spot after Albian Hajdari was harshly penalised for a handball.
That broke Hoffenheim’s resistance and Kane completed his ninth Bundesliga hat-trick with another penalty, given for a foul on substitute Michael Olise after a video assistant referee (VAR) check.
This time Kane sent home keeper Oliver Baumann the wrong way for his 13th Bayern goal in seven matches across all competitions this season, adding to his Champions League double against Chelsea last Wednesday.
“Hat-trick Harry is what they called me in school,” Kane told Tidesports source after the match. “That one kind of stuck when I was younger.”
“Any ball in the box, whether penalty or not, I back myself to hit the target.”
Hoffenheim had the better of the first 45 minutes, Fisnik Asllani only able to hit the post after goalkeeper Manuel Neuer passed straight to the Kosovan.
They eventually got some reward for their efforts, former West Ham full-back Vladimir Coufal’s deflected free-kick beating Neuer to earn the Czech his first goal for the club.
Ex-Liverpool winger Luis Diaz hit the top of the bar late on as he failed to continue his record of scoring in every Bundesliga game this season, but Serge Gnabry added a fourth for Bayern with the last kick, converting a rebound from a tight angle after Baumann saved from Joshua Kimmich.
Nicolas Jackson made his first start since joining Bayern on an initial loan deal from Chelsea, but the Senegal striker had a very quiet game before being replaced in the 62nd minute.
In Italy, Lorenzo Pellegrini fired Roma into the Serie A top four as Lazio had two players sent off in a fiery derby.
The midfielder found the bottom corner in the 38th minute as Roma extended their unbeaten run to four games against their city rivals.
Lazio have lost three of their opening games of the season and had Reda Belahyane and former Arsenal midfielder Matteo Guendouzi dismissed in late drama.
Roma started well and Rome-born Pellegrini claimed the vital goal – his fourth in a Rome derby after being available for transfer in the summer – following good work down the right by Matias Soule.
But the hosts will rue missed opportunities as Boulaye Dia, Mattia Zaccagni and Alessio Romagnoli all had openings.
With four minutes left substitute Belahyane was shown a red card for a late studs-up challenge on Manu Kone.
Danilo Cataldi struck the outside of the post for Lazio in a last-gasp effort to snatch a point, while team-mate Guendouzi was sent off for dissent after the final whistle.
Luca Zidane, the son of France’s World Cup-winning playmaker Zinedine, has switched his international allegiance from France to Algeria.
Born just outside Marseille, the 27-year-old goalkeeper had appeared for France at various youth levels.
The move, which was approved by Fifa, may enable Zidane to follow in his father’s footsteps by appearing at a World Cup, with Algeria expected to secure a place at the 2026 finals in North America in their qualifier against Somalia next month.
Zidane, who is the second of four brothers, all of whom came through the Real Madrid academy, currently plays for Spanish second tier side Granada.
He played two matches for Madrid and has La Liga experience at Rayo Vallecano, but dropped a level in 2022 to play for Eibar before heading to Andalusia in 2024.
Zidane qualifies for the North African country through his father, whose parents hailed from the Kabylie region of Algeria.
Zinedine Zidane, who is regarded as one of the games greatest players scored twice for France in their 1998 World Cup final victory over Brazil, but was famously sent-off in the 2006 final, which was won by Italy after a penalty shootout.
Manchester United capitalised on Robert Sanchez’s fifth-minute red card to secure a crucial victory over Chelsea in torrential rain at Old Trafford.
The first match in Premier League history to see two or more goals, red cards and substitutions in the first half was settled by goals from United skipper Bruno Fernandes and Casemiro, who was the other player sent off before the break.
It was Sanchez’s dismissal that set the course of the game though.
The Spain international raced from his goal to meet Bryan Mbeumo as the striker ran beyond the Chelsea defence.
Sanchez then upended the forward outside his area rather than allow him past to tap the ball into an empty net.
Enzo Maresca’s response to the red card was to take off both Pedro Neto and Estevao Willian and, as Cole Palmer had to be replaced after suffering a recurrence of a groin injury, Chelsea had lost three attacking players in the space of 20 minutes.
Trevor Chalobah pulled one back for Chelsea with a header 10 minutes from time but United kept their nerves at bay to make it to the final whistle with their lead intact.
The victory was United’s second of the season and came in front of minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who gave head coach Ruben Amorim assurances over his future 48 hours earlier.
It also means Chelsea have still not won at Old Trafford since 2013, when Sir Alex Ferguson was United manager.
-
News4 days ago
CJN To Swear In 57 New SANs, Sept 29
-
Sports4 days ago
Bournemouth, Newcastle Share Points
-
Editorial4 days ago
No To Political Office Holders’ Salary Hike
-
Sports4 days ago
Sosa Pledges To Support Dolphins Swimming League
-
Oil & Energy4 days ago
FG Inaugurates National Energy Master Plan Implementation Committee
-
News4 days ago
Tinubu, Atiku, Others To Attend Ladoja’s Coronation As Olubadan, Friday
-
Sports4 days ago
Iwobi Stars As Fulham Overcome Brentford
-
Maritime4 days ago
Ogbe Urges Nigerian Coys To Seek Deep Water Opportunities