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Isinbayeva: Whoever wins the pole-vault gold in Rio can only be second best

Isinbayeva won’t be able to compete at the Rio Olympics as Russian track and field athletes have been barred from the Olympics

Yelena Isinbayeva Sergey Savostyanov/TASS

Yelena Isinbayeva

© Sergey Savostyanov/TASS

RIO DE JANEIRO, August 15. /TASS/. The pole-vault win at the Rio Olympics will be always thrown into doubt as two-time Olympic champion Yelena Isinbayeva has been barred from the competition, the Russian pole-vault star said on Monday.

The Russian champion demonstrated this season’s second result at June’s Russian Championship in Cheboksary with 4.90 meters. The season’s best result was shown by US athlete Sandi Morris with 4.93 meters.

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"What will I say to those who will take first place? They will be second by default," the Russian pole vaulter said.

Isinbayeva arrived in Rio de Janeiro, the capital of the Olympics Games, as a candidate for the athletes’ commission of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The commission’s new structure will be elected by athletes performing at the Rio Olympics.

Head of the Russian delegation at the Rio Olympics, Igor Kazikov, told TASS that Russian Olympians would unanimously support Isinbayeva. As for now, four-time Olympic champion Alexander Popov represents Russia in the IOC’s athletes’ commission.

Isinbayeva won’t be able to compete at the Rio Olympics as Russian track and field athletes have been barred from the Olympics after the all-Russian Athletics Federation was disqualified due to doping allegations.

On July 21, the Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected a lawsuit filed by the Russian Olympic Committee and 68 track and field athletes to fight the decision by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) to bar them from the Olympics.

Isinbayeva won the Olympic gold in 2004 and 2008 and was also the bronze medalist in the 2012 Olympic Games. The pole vault queen has set 28 world records during her sports career.

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