Christine Mboma, right, and her compatriot Beatrice Masilingi, left, were banned from competing in the 400m at Tokyo 2020, but did feature in the 200m ©Getty Images

Namibia's Olympic silver medallist Christine Mboma and her compatriot Beatrice Masilingi have spoken about their bans from the 400-metre event at Tokyo 2020, describing it as "a very bad experience", "quite disturbing" and "hard to understand."

At the start of July, a World Athletics assessment found they had differences in sexual development (DSD) and high natural levels of testosterone and, under its rules, must take drugs to reduce their naturally-occurring testosterone for women's events from 400m to a mile.

This prevented the pair from competing in their preferred 400m event at their maiden Olympics.

Earlier in the year, Mboma broke the under-20 world record for the distance in 48.54sec, while Masilingi recorded a season's best of 49.53.

Both athletes were able to compete in the 200m at Tokyo 2020, with Mboma setting another under-20 world record of 21.81 to win silver - Namibia's first Olympic medal since Atlanta 1996.

Masilingi recorded a personal best of 22.28 to finish sixth.

Christine Mboma, centre, won silver in the women's 200m at Tokyo 2020, but admitted her and Beatrice Masilingi's bans from the 400m were
Christine Mboma, centre, won silver in the women's 200m at Tokyo 2020, but admitted her and Beatrice Masilingi's bans from the 400m were "a very bad experience" ©Getty Images

As reported by Namibian newspaper New Era, the pair have spoken for the first time over the controversy.

Masilingi said during the programme titled "Namibian athletes reflect on their journey to success", which was streamed live by the country's information ministry, the ban from the 400m was a major source of frustration, and that focusing on the 200m required very different preparations at short notice.

"It was quite disturbing at the beginning; it was hard to understand - but as time went on, we had no choice but to rather focus on the positive side of things," Masilingi commented.

"So, we decided to turn our focus and attention to the 200m and started working on it.

"We had to adjust quickly; it demanded that we mentally and physically switch our thoughts very fast ahead of the Olympics.

"We literally had to change how we do things on the track."

Mboma echoed Masilingi's sentiments, explaining the impact the decision had on their training for the Games.

Mboma has triumphed in two Diamond League events in Brussels and Zürich and two World Athletics Continental Tour Gold events in Zagreb and Nairobi since her Tokyo 2020 silver medal ©Getty Images
Mboma has triumphed in two Diamond League events in Brussels and Zürich and two World Athletics Continental Tour Gold events in Zagreb and Nairobi since her Tokyo 2020 silver medal ©Getty Images

"Very disappointed," Mboma admitted.

"It was bad news because our focus was always on the 400m and we had been training for the 400m all along.

"But now, you are told you can’t run 400m.

"We were not even sure if we could really do well in the 200m, but we had no choice.

"It was a very bad experience.

"But we had talks with our coach and we decided to do the 200m.

"Getting out of the starting blocks during training for the 200m was a bit of a problem - but if you believe in yourself, everything is possible."

Since Tokyo 2020, Mboma won the women's 200m at the World Athletics Under-20 Championships in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, with Masilingi a silver medallist in the 100m and 200m.

Mboma has also triumphed in two Diamond League events in Brussels and Zürich and two World Athletics Continental Tour Gold events in Zagreb and Nairobi in the 200m.