Russian Yelena Isinbayeva appointed member of IOC despite opposition
On the 21st of August, Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva, who sharply criticized the ban against Russian athletes’ participation in the 2016 Olympics, was appointed as a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). However, approximately one third of the votes were against the two-time Olympic champion’s candidacy.
Isinbayeva received 45 votes for her and 23 votes against her. Two IOC members abstained from voting. She was elected as a member of the IOC Athletes’ Commission, by preference voting of the athletes participating in the Olympics, three days earlier. This means that the voting on Sunday was just a formal approval of the nominees.
Reuters reported that the other members of the commission who were elected by athletes were Britta Heidemann of Germany, Daniel Gyurta from Hungary, Son Heung-min from South Korea, as well as Sarah Walker of New Zealand, whose candidacy was introduced by IOC President Thomas Bach. They were elected by an overwhelming majority of votes. None of them received more than three votes against them.
The 34-year-old Isinbayeva, who holds the world record, was banned from performing at the 2016 Olympics by the International Association of Athletics Federations. This ban was extended to more than a hundred of her teammates after the systematic use of doping substances by Russian athletes was exposed.
Interfax reported that Isinbayeva, who had announced her retirement from her sports career a few days ago, said that the support of her candidacy by the athletes had made her “so happy, it was as if I had gone to Rio and won the gold medal”. She also said that “the election to the IOC was a victory for all of us”.
She emphasized that she would fight to ensure that the alleged injustice against Russian athletes and their non-admission to the Olympics would never happen again.