The double Olympic champion warned that the clean
athletes of her country will not be able to compete, if on July 1st the
4.5 million euros fine imposed by the World Athletics is not paid.
Russian athletics is "on the brink of
disaster." In this crude and heart-breaking way, former athlete Yelena
Isinbayeva has appealed directly to President Putin to resolve the situation which
may prevent Clean Russian athletes from competing at any international event. This
disaster may happen within a few hours of the July 1 deadline, if the Russian
Athletics Federation don’t pay half of the 9 million euro fine imposed by the
World Athletics (IAAF). The financial penalty was imposed in January 2020 after
the Russian Athletics Federation cover-up, demonstrated in the case of doping
controls for high jumper Danil Lysenko. At the time of writing this article, we
have no information on the resolution of this situation.
The double Olympic pole-vaulting champion signed a
letter to Putin, together with other "clean" Russian athletes,
warning him of the seriousness of the situation. Given the urgency of the payment that was due
last Wednesday, July 1st ,Isinbayeva has also launched an SOS
through another letter to World Athletics President Sebastian Coe and the IOC,
Thomas Bach, in which she draws the attention of Both organizations, warning
that being out of competitions would be "a gross violation of sporting
principles and the rights of clean athletes."
In both letters she warned that if the corresponding
payment is not made, the Authorized Neutral Athlete (ANA) process will be
suspended, which allows certain Russian athletes to compete under a neutral
flag. "The international federation has no right to deny the opportunity
to Russian Clean athletes who pass a strict selection through the most serious
controls, to participate in international competitions, at least, under neutral
status. In our opinion, stripping ourselves of these rights is a gross
violation of sporting principles and athletes' rights clean, "she
concludes.
