Two-time Olympic pole vault gold medallist Yelena Isinbayeva livid after Court of Arbitration dashes dope-tainted Russia’s Rio Olympics hopes
Yelena Isinbaeva
Moscow: Russian athletes yesterday reacted with a mixture of anger and despair after the Court of Arbitration for Sport dashed their dreams of competing at the Rio Olympics by rejecting an appeal against a ban for doping.
Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbaeva during the IAAF Golden League Golden event at Rome in 2009. PIC/GETTY IMAGES
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High jumper Maria Kuchina — a medal hopeful for the Games — was competing at an event near Moscow that she hoped would be a warm-up for Brazil when the news she had been dreading came through. “My first reaction was: It’s just not true! How can it be? The world’s going crazy,” 23-year-old Kuchina told journalists. “It was supposed to be my first Games and it is a serious blow to me - both as an athlete and as a person.”
Other sports stars lashed out furiously against the ruling that Moscow has often portrayed as part of a broader campaign against Russia. Two-time Olympic pole vault gold medallist Yelena Isinbayeva, who had been hoping to end her stellar career with victory at her fifth Olympics, said the ruling would deal a mortal blow to international athletics. “Thank you all for this funeral for athletics,” Isinbayeva, 34, told TASS.
High jumper Kuchina
Angry Instagram post
Later she wrote angrily on Instagram: “Let all those ‘clean’ foreign athletes breathe a sigh of relief and win their pseudo-gold medals in our absence. Strength has always been feared.” World champion hurdler Sergey Shubenkov, 25, also posted a picture of himself holding his head and looking glum after the ruling. “What a shame. Well done, congrats, enjoy “clean” sport,” he wrote on Instagram. On the other hand, Russia’s top hammer thrower Sergey Litvinov, known for his strong anti-doping stance, said he felt a sense of relief at the decision, even though it prevents him competing. “I felt a kind of a relief after the CAS verdict was announced. Finally there was some kind of clarity,” said the 30-year-old athlete, calling for Russia to “acknowledge its mistakes.”
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