This kiss sparked 'gay' rumours and forced denials from Russian athletes

Two Russian female gold medal winners at the Moscow World Athletics Championships expressed bewilderment Tuesday over media claims that their passionate podium kiss was a symbol of gay defiance against a new Russian law banning homosexual quotpropagandaquot Ksenia Ryzhova and Yulia Gushchina who kissed each other on the lips after receiving their gold medals said they were offended by any suggestion they were more than just good friends and complained the furore had spoilt their victory celebrations The pair were half of the Russian 4x400 women39s relay quartet who swept to victory in front of a packed Luzhniki stadium in Moscow on Saturday defeating the American favourites in one of the highlights of the championships Russia39s Tatyana Firova R and Russia39s Kseniya Ryzhova kiss after winning the women39s 4x400 metres relay final at the 2013 IAAF World Championships at the Luzhniki stadium in Moscow on August 17 2013 PicAFP Some activists saw the kiss as a brazen show of defiance in support of gays and lesbians and against President Vladimir Putin after the championships were shadowed throughout by controversy over the law But Ryzhova 26 insisted Tuesday that she was married and made clear she was none too happy that people now suspected that she and Gushchina might be having a lesbian relationship quotYesterday I was telephoned 20 times by various publications and instead of congratulating me they decided to insult me with these questionsquot she fumed quoted by the ITARTASS news agency quotMyself and Yulia are both married and we are not having any kind of relationshipquot she added saying the two were very good friends after having trained together for eight years quotIt was a storm of emotions after winning And if at that moment we touched lips I don39t know in whose fantasy this all gets thought up quotThis insults not just us but our trainersquot she added Gushchina 30 expressed similar astonishment saying she quotcould not understand how such a thing could come into people39s headsquot quotWhen Ksenia sent me the link to the photograph and the news reports I could not believe my eyes These victories are hard to come by and we were happy I don39t understand how everything could be tarnished in such a wayquot Gushchina said she was completely unaware of the controversy surrounding the law quotI simply did not hear or read about it because I was totally focused on my performance at the championshipsquot The law which outlaws the dissemination of homosexual quotpropagandaquot to minors was signed by Putin in June and has prompted calls for a boycott of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi The controversy was intensified at the World Championships when gold medalwinning star Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva backed the law and said quotwe just live with boys with women women with boysquot She also branded Swedish highjumper Emma GreenTregaro as quotdisrespectfulquot for painting her nails in the rainbow colours of gay rights The stance of Isinbayeva who later said she may have been misunderstood and was against antigay discrimination has received widespread support among Russian media and sports officials quotIt39s madnessquot Russia39s chief athletics coach Valentin Maslakov told the Sovietsky Sport daily quotWhat did she say She gave her opinion And Western journalists if we can call them journalists immediately decided to make a story about nothingquot Valentin Balakhnichev the head of the Russian athletics federation who was among few Russian officials to criticise Isinbayeva for her comments said it was time for everyone to calm down quotI39m very upset by all the furore that has sprung up around Russia and the law I ask everyone to stop and take it easy Not one participant in Moscow experienced pressure because of their beliefsquot