Margaret Nyairera Wambūi (born 15 September 1995) is a Kenyan middle-distance runner who specialized in the 800 metres.
In her first international competition, she won the gold at the 2014 World Junior Championships. She later competed at the 2015 World Championships without advancing from her heat. At the 2016 World Indoor Championships she won the bronze medal. That same year she competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics, setting a new personal best of 1:56.89 in the final, which also earned her a bronze.
In 2019, it was revealed that Wambūi was born with the 46,XY karyotype and an intersex condition after she was disqualified from IAAF women's competition by the association's new regulations for athletes with XY disorders of sex development, testosterone levels above 5 nmol/L, and androgen sensitivity. The rules were upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Wambūi declined to take medication to suppress her testostoerone levels in order to be eligible for women's competitions under the new rules, and has not competed internationally since then.
She was one of the athletes whose cases were profiled in Phyllis Ellis's 2022 documentary film Category: Woman.Elisabetta Bianchini, "'Category: Woman' documentary calls out the human rights violation of defining a woman in sports". Yahoo News, 9 May 2022.
Competition record Representing 2014World Junior ChampionshipsEugene, United States1st800 m2:00.492015World ChampionshipsBeijing, China39th (h)800 m2:03.522016World Indoor ChampionshipsPortland, United States3rd800 m2:00.44African ChampionshipsDurban, South Africa2nd400 m52.243rd4 × 400 m relay3:30.21Olympic GamesRio de Janeiro, Brazil3rd800 m1:56.892017World ChampionshipsLondon, United Kingdom4th800 m1:57.542018World Indoor ChampionshipsBirmingham, United Kingdom –800 mDQCommonwealth GamesGold Coast, Australia2nd800 m1:58.07African ChampionshipsAsaba, Nigeria7th (h)800 m2:02.801 1Did not finish in the final
References
External links