Kenyan Margaret Wambui fears her track career may be over now that a rule is in place capping testosterone levels in women’s events between the 400m and mile, according to Agence France-Presse.
Wambui, the Olympic 800m bronze medalist, joined the others on the Rio podium in that event, South African Caster Semenya and Burundi’s Francine NIyonsaba, who previously said the new rule impacts them.
“I am very disappointed,” Wambui said, according to the report. “I don’t feel even like going on with the training because you don’t know what you are training for.”
Wambui, 23, said she will not take medication, according to AFP, which signals that she would not try to meet the testosterone limit to return to 800m competition for the world championships this fall.
“Something in me, in my blood, it is something I cannot do without,” she reportedly said. “Now they are telling us we can’t compete, we just feel rejected.
“We are just natural. We did not dope.”
Semenya lost an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport to block the rule from going into effect. South Africa’s track and field federation indicated it will lodge a further appeal.
“Why, when you have a high level of testosterone in men, you are likely to perform well and we celebrate that?” Wambui said, according to AFP. “But when it comes to women we have to tell them to lower it, and we draw them out of competition. Why?”
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