2021 Tokyo Olympics: I’m Rooting for Every Oppressed Woman
The Olympics’ sexist and racist punishment of female athletes of color makes it difficult to celebrate the contests
I’m rooting for 18-year-old Namibian runners Christine Mboma and Beatrice Masilingi in the Olympics’ 200-meter competition not only because they’re incredible athletes but because they’ve been biologically discriminated against.
A couple of weeks ago, the two teens were banned from Tokyo’s 400-meter race because, according to the World Athletics, their testosterone levels were too high. No foreign substances or performance-enhancing chemicals were found in the bodies of these young women; their natural testosterone levels alone were the cause of their Olympic disqualification.
The only reason Mboma and Masilingi were tested in the first place is that Africans have spent all year annihilating their opponents in the track and field competition. Back in April, Masilingi ran a 49.53 seconds at a low-level meet in Zambia. It stands as the year’s third-fastest time in a 400-meter dash competition. The fastest time belongs to Mboma, who, a couple of weeks ago, ran a scorching 48.54 seconds in Poland. Her time is an under-20 record and the seventh-fastest ever ran in a 400.
