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  Rio 2016: ‘No Yelena Isinbayeva, no shine in gold’

Rio 2016: ‘No Yelena Isinbayeva, no shine in gold’

REUTERS
Published : Aug 21, 2016, 1:03 am IST
Updated : Aug 21, 2016, 1:03 am IST

Barred from competing at the Rio Games, Russia's double Olympic champion Yelena Isinbayeva announced her retirement on Friday and said whoever won the women’s pole vault in her absence would not have

Barred from competing at the Rio Games, Russia's double Olympic champion Yelena Isinbayeva announced her retirement on Friday and said whoever won the women’s pole vault in her absence would not have achieved a proper gold medal.

At a combative news conference, Isinbayeva also said God would be the judge of whether athletics’ governing body was right to exclude almost the entire Russian track and field team, including herself, over what it said was incontrovertible evidence of state-sponsored doping.

Isinbayeva said she had been confident of winning the pole vault after clearing 4.90 metres on June 2 on her first competitive appearance for three years after giving birth to a daughter.

She said she and her coach had been confident she would achieve 5.10, four centimetres higher than her own world record, and well above the season’s best of 4.93 set by American Sandi Morris.

“I really believed in my victory, because everything was heading towards that,” Isinbayeva said. “When the girls jump today without me, do you think that will be honest

“If you look at the big picture, when you compete without Isinbayeva it can’t be a proper gold medal.”

Whoever wins, she said, “I will congratulate the new pole vault champion, of course, but I'm sure she will feel it's not entirely gold because goal number one is to beat Isinbayeva.”

Isinbayeva, 34, was elected by her peers on Thursday to the International Olympic Committee’s athletes’ commission, and the IOC will vote on Sunday on whether to confirm her as one of its 100-odd members.

Answering questions for an hour with her impassioned, quick-fire delivery, Isinbayeva said she did not deny Russia had a doping problem but only on a par with any other country. “I’m very happy that I fulfilled my dreams, I won all possible medals, all possible titles, I won the trust and love of all the fans in the world.”

Location: Brazil, Rio de Janeiro