New starting-block cameras censored at Doha championships after female athletes protest

Images from cameras built into the starting blocks at the World Athletics Championships in Doha will be censored following objections from female athletes.

The cameras — which were in use for the first time and promised to “provide innovative angles on the competition,” according to the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) — showed images of athletes’ intimate areas, prompting criticism from German sprinters Tatjana Pinto and Gina Lückenkemper.

Lückenkemper said that standing on top of the cameras wearing short running shorts was “really not comfortable.”

“I as a woman find that quite stupid,” she said in a statement released by her spokesman.

“And I have said I would doubt that a woman was part of the development of that (the cameras).”

Officials from the German Athletics Federation (DLV) contacted the IAAF following complaints from Pinto and Lückenkemper.

The IAAF will now restrict the use of images from the cameras, according to a statement from the DLV.

CNN has reached out to the IAAF for comment.

This year’s World Championships have been plagued by poor attendance, with the 40,000-capacity Khalifa International Stadium struggling to attract the number of spectators expected for such a major international sporting event.

Both the men’s and women’s 100-meter finals were run in front of a partially empty stadium, with only the distance events attracting a more respectable crowd.