Namibia has been in an uproar following a report by Lets Run.com that sprinter sensations Christine Mboma and Beatrice Masilingi have been removed from the Tokyo 2020 400m Olympics list.
Yesterday the entire world celebrated Mboma's 400m victory after she finished her race in 48.54 seconds, making her the 7th fastest 400m runner of all time, but no one saw it coming that she would be removed from the list abruptly.
Social media has erupted with outrage over their decision to remove her from the list. According to reports, the athletes were withdrawn from competition due to failing to meet World Athletics eligibility and having high levels of testosterone.
"If Mboma was eligible for the 400, one would think she’d enter the event as she’d be the overwhelming gold-medal favorite. In the history of the world, no woman at her age had accomplished what she did yesterday," the paper reported.
Yesterday, the Namibian golden girls dominated Twitter trends and other social media outlets gave their flowers, but the latest development has caused concern for a number of people who have accused the World Athletics of being racist due to their decision to remove the duo.
Twitter users reacted to the decision, demanding justice for the athletes.
@taytbells "Whàtever we as black Africans have done to IAAF they should just forgive us. Their rules are only applicable to us black Africans. What have Christine Mboma and Beatrice Masilingi done?
@knowledgeipinge tweeted, " @WorldAthletics What is your problem with Africans exactly, how did you arrive at the decision of withdrawing our Namibian girls Christine Mboma and Beatrice Masilingi from the Tokyo Olympics 400m without even testing them?
@Benedick_M_Louw tweeted "@WorldAthletics is an anti-African anti-black and racist body that goes around arbitrarily reducing black excellence to testosterone levels. They've done it with @caster800m now they are doing it to our two girls Christine Mboma and Beatrice Masilingi. #Olympics2021"
Whàtever we as black Africans have done to IAAF they should just forgive us. Their rules are only applicable to us black Africans. What have Christine Mboma and Beatrice Masilingi done?
— #SportsFanatic🏀⚾🥎🥍⚽🎾🏈🎱 (@taytbells) July 1, 2021
Christine and Beatrice Masilingi have been raising the Namibian flag high with their impressive wins lately. Beatrice recently made history at the Lucerne Athletics Meeting in Switzerland after winning the 200m race finishing it in 22,67 seconds.
Speaking to The Namibian her Henk Botha said they were pleased with her victory.
"We are very happy with Beatrice's result last night in Lucerne. We worked on her bend running and acceleration towards the end and she did that perfectly. However, she didn't have her usual fast start, but we must understand that it was slippery and wet. She told me afterward that she was afraid that she was going to slip, so it's understandable that she didn't have a perfect start, but she is also building up experience for the future by running in conditions like this,” said Botha.
