Furious Isaac Makwala accuses IAAF of 'sabotage' after World Athletics Championships 2017 exclusion

AFP/Getty Images
Matt McGeehan9 August 2017

Botswana medal hope Isaac Makwala has accused the IAAF of "sabotage" after he was excluded from Tuesday night's 400 metres final on medical grounds following a bout of norovirus.

The 30-year-old had been expected to challenge favourite and Olympic champion Wayde van Niekerk of South Africa over one lap. Van Niekerk won gold on Tuesday night.

Video footage showed Makwala was prevented from entering the warm-up track and Botswanan officials criticised the IAAF for their heavy-handedness and lack of communication.

Makwala told ITV News: "They said I had food poisoning - which I don't have. I was not tested for that.

"They didn't even want to listen to me. They said 'no, you can't run because you are sick.'

"Sometimes I think maybe this is sabotage."

Makwala claimed had he been British he would have been permitted to compete.

He said: "I asked myself 'what if I was a Great British guy, would they not allow me to run?'

"I don't think they would not allow me to run. If they saw the guy had potential they are going to allow him to run.

"It's only because I'm not a Great British athlete."

Athletics' world governing body has defended its decision, saying it was taken to contain the contagious illness.

The IAAF said in a statement issued moments before the final: "The IAAF is very sorry that the hard work and talent of Isaac Makwala won't be on display tonight but we have to think of the welfare of all athletes.

"The athlete was diagnosed with an infectious disease on Monday.

"As per UK health regulations, it was requested that he be quarantined in his room for 48 hours, a period which ends at 1400hrs tomorrow (August 9).

"These procedures are recommended by Public Health England and were clearly explained to the teams in writing on Sunday (August 6) and in person to the Botswanan delegation, a member of which was present with many other representatives of teams at a meeting that took place at the Guoman Tower Hotel on Sunday."

Former 400m World and Olympic champion and world record holder Michael Johnson questioned the decision to exclude Makwala.

Johnson told the BBC: "There is the elephant in the room - Wayde van Niekerk's only challenger has been pulled out of both the 200m and 400m. The conspiracy theories will come out of the silence."

Botswana team officials dispute the IAAF's version of events and criticised the communication from the world governing body.

Makwala had been given medical dispensation to withdraw from the 200m heats on Monday night.

Without a valid reason for pulling out, he could have been disqualified from the 400m final - an event he was forced to miss.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in