MONTREUIL, France, Jun 2 – Olympic 800m silver medallist Francine Niyonsaba, barred from competing over that distance by World Athletics’ testosterone-reducing regulations, set an Olympic qualifying time in the women’s 5,000m in a meeting in France on Tuesday.
The 28-year-old from Burundi, like two-time Olympic 800m champion Caster Semenya, has been trying to qualify for the postponed Tokyo Games this summer.
Niyonsaba clocked 14min 54.70sec as she finished fourth in Montreuil, bettering her own personal best by more than 17 seconds and easily coming in under the Olympic qualifying time of 15:10.00.
“I’m qualified, I’m very happy, it was my desire,” said Niyonsaba.
“I had a great race, I’m very proud. It was tough for me to step up from 800m to 5,000m, there’s been a lot of suffering.
“It took time, but I persisted, I adapted my training, I doubled my efforts as far as the 800m is concerned.”
Niyonsaba added: “It’s a great response.”
Females like Niyonsaba and South African Semenya who have unusually high levels of testosterone, which gives them added strength, are prohibited from competing in races between 400m and a mile.
It has left them looking around at what other events they might qualify in for the Tokyo Games.
Semenya failed again on Friday in Durban to qualify for the 5,000m, timing 15:32.15.
The International Olympic Committee has set June 29 as the qualification deadline for athletes wanting to compete in Japan.
