The Russian Republic of Dagestan removes the name of the athlete Yelena Isinbáyeva from a stadium
Authorities in the Russian republic of Dagestan have withdrawn the name of Yelena Isinbayeva from an athletics stadium on Wednesday after the double Olympic pole vault champion spoke out in favor of peace in Ukraine.
In the images, released by the official RIA Novosti agency, you can see how an operator removes the letters from the facade of the building in the Dagestani capital, Makhachkala. The 41-year-old Russian athlete Isinbáyeva was born in Volgograd. Her mother is Russian, while her father’s family is originally from Dagestan.
The Dagestani government had made the decision only a few days earlier, on Monday, after the head of the republic, Sergei Mélikov, proposed returning the stadium to its original name, Trud (Work). “And in honor of Isinbáyeva, that they name a pavilion in Spain,” the president published on his Telegram channel. Isinbáyeva lives in Spain.
The controversy with Isinbáyeva started when the athlete, known as the tsarina of the pole, announced that in September she would resume her work at the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Isinbáyeva, when she enjoyed Putin’s sympathies, in 2015, was appointed major of CSKA, the sports club of the Russian army. A rank that she considers “purely nominal”, since, as she has recalled, she never served in the Armed Forces or served as a deputy or was part of the ruling party.
Because it belongs to CSKA, the IOC provisionally suspended its participation in the activities of that body, although its ethics committee finally concluded that it will be able to continue its work, since the Russian company neither had a contract with the army nor did it support the Russian military campaign in Ukraine. .
“I am a person of peace. I always was and always will be. I have always believed and will believe in the best in each person”, assured Isinbáyeva, who received a medal at the time from the current Defense Minister, Sergei Shoigu. These statements of hers have earned her strong criticism in Russia, where she is accused of selling her homeland for a position in the IOC and her real estate holdings in Spain. The harshest criticism of her was made by the Minister of Sports, Oleg Matitsin, who considered it “unacceptable” to despise the military rank and described the athlete as oblivious to what is happening in her native country.
The pole vaulter won gold at the Olympic Games in Athens (2004) and Beijing (2008), and bronze at the London Games (2012), and was world champion four times indoors and three times outdoors. The 5.06 meters that the Russian jumped in 2009 is still the world record for the outdoor discipline. (Eph)
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