Double Olympic pole vault champion Yelena Isinbayeva claims the potential ban on all Russian athletics stars competing at Rio 2016 violates her human rights and intends to file a lawsuit if the suspension is not lifted in time.
The All-Russia Athletic Federation was suspended by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) last November following allegations of systemic and state sponsored doping published by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Independent Commission.
Russians have since been banned from all international competition, missing events including the World Indoor Championships in March.
A final decision on whether the ban will remain in place at Rio 2016 and beyond is set to be made at an IAAF Council meeting in Vienna on June 17.
This will directly affect Isinbayeva, the Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 champion who won her third world title at her home World Championships in Moscow in 2013 and has never been implicated in doping.
“I am angry because I’m helpless – they’re not giving me a chance to compete,” she said in an interview conducted via Skype.
”It’s a direct violation of human rights, discrimination.
“All I can do now is train.
”Four years, [for athletes] – it’s a long time.
“Many of them can be, how can you say, broken.
”In the case of a negative ruling for us, I will personally go to an international court regarding human rights – and I’m confident that I’ll win.”
By Nick Butler
Republished with permission from insidethegames.biz