Sports

Athletics: Semenya fails again in 5,000m Olympic qualifying bid, Sport News & Top Stories

PARIS (AFP) – South African athlete Caster Semenya missed out again on Saturday (June 19) in Regensburg, Germany to qualify for the 5,000 metres at the Tokyo Olympics.

The 30-year-old, who is barred from defending her Olympic 800m title, finished fourth in Saturday’s race in a time of 15 minutes 57.12 seconds, more than 47 seconds outside the 15:10 required to compete in Tokyo.

She has previously clocked times of 15:52.28 in Pretoria at an altitude of 1,339 metres and 15:32.15 at sea level in Durban.

Semenya has been the Olympic champion twice and world champion three times over 800m, but is barred from competing over that distance by World Athletics’ testosterone-reducing regulations.

Females like Semenya who have unusually high levels of testosterone, which gives them added strength, are prohibited from competing in races between 400m and a mile (1.6km).

The South African refuses to take medication that would reduce her testosterone level and has twice failed in legal battles to overturn the World Athletics decision.

She recently took her case to the European Court of Human Rights, but it is unlikely to be heard before the Olympics begin.

Reacting to the ban, Semenya initially favoured seeking qualification for the 200m, but became concerned about potential injuries and switched to 5,000m.

The International Olympic Committee has set June 29 as the qualification deadline for athletes wanting to compete in Japan.

You May Also Like

World

France, which has opened its borders to Canadian tourists, is eager to see Canada reopen to the French. The Canadian border remains closed...

Health

Kashechewan First Nation in northern Ontario is experiencing a “deepening state of emergency” as a result of surging COVID-19 cases in the community...

World

The virus that causes COVID-19 could have started spreading in China as early as October 2019, two months before the first case was identified in the central city of Wuhan, a new study...

World

April Ross and Alix Klineman won the first Olympic gold medal for the United States in women’s beach volleyball since 2012 on Friday,...

© 2021 Newslebrity.com - All Rights Reserved.