ZURICH, Sept 8, 2021 (BSS/AFP) - Unusually for an athlete in her mid-20s,
Francine Niyonsaba has been forced to recalibrate from an outstanding
multiple medal-winning 800m runner to adopting the 5,000m as her new event.

  The Burundian won an Olympic silver medal at 800m in Rio in 2016 and also
came second at the London world championships a year later, and is also a
two-time world indoor champion.

  But Niyonsaba, like South Africa's gold medal winner in Rio, Caster
Semenya, saw her hopes of continuing in the two-lap discipline dashed in May
2019 after World Athletics introduced controversial rules governing
testosterone levels.

  Female athletes like Niyonsaba and Semenya who have unusually high levels
of testosterone, which gives them added strength, are prohibited from
competing in races between 400m and a mile unless they undergo treatment to
reduce the levels.

  It left them looking around at what other events they might qualify in for
the Tokyo Games. While Semenya failed to make the qualifying time amid a
court battle, Niyonsaba made the cut for the 5000m in only her second
competitive run over the distance.

  "It was a long journey. I was blessed to be in the Olympics," Niyonsaba
said ahead of the two-day Diamond League finale in Zurich on Wednesday and
Thursday.

  In Tokyo, Niyonsaba was disqualified in the heats of the 5,000m, but
finished fifth in the 10,000m.

  "I had many changes. I'm glad I never gave up."

  Now 28, she said: "Since I was born, I have not had an easy life and I love
challenges and I face them with a lot of determination and perserverance.

  "To transform 800m into long-distance, it's not easy. In the Olympics it
was new challenges, new experiences, so I was happy."

  - 'Not going back' -

  Niyonsaba had relocated for training to Eugene, Oregon, as an athlete
affiliated to the US sportswear giant Nike.

  But her change in distance on the track saw her decide on a different
course, swapping Eugene for the foothills of Kenya shortly after she was
barred from her favoured 800m in May 2019.

  "It was the right decision to move from America to Kenya because I knew
Kenya is home of champions in long distance," she said.

  "To meet many athletes there... Meeting Kipchoge in the morning, it gives
you motivation!" she said, referring to the dominant marathon runner in the
world, Eliud Kipchoge.

  Kipchoge's Kenyan teammate Hellen Obiri, the two-time world champion and
Olympic silver medallist behind Sifan Hassan in Tokyo, will likely be
Niyonsaba's main rival in Wednesday's race, run on an unorthodox 560-metre
track on the shores of Lake Zurich.

  "Every race is new for me. I think it's going to be a great race," the
Burundi athlete said. "Running with Obiri is an honour."

  Niyonsaba trumped Obiri when the two took to the track at last week's
Diamond League meet in Brussels, just as Namibian teenager Christine Mboma
triumphed in the 200m over Britain's reigning world champion Dina Asher-
Smith.

  Like Niyonsaba, Mboma has been barred from running her favoured 400m unless
she takes the testosterone-reducing drugs.

  The fact the pair beat current world champions after recent decisions to
swap events out of necessity raised the contentious issue of whether
regulations put in place by the sport's governing body to try to create a
"level playing field" actually go far enough.

  It is a delicate subject, but Niyonsaba was sanguine.

  "I'm here and I'm doing well," she said. "I'm back because I want to make
sports be in a better place and keep inspiring others.

  "I will never go back, I'm going to keep looking forward.

  "Today, every moment I enjoy to run. I'm going to keep training hard and
perform well. I love to do my best."