Illustration copyright Reuters Image caption “I’m really happy,” said Daria Klishina and thanked the IAAF “for its expert decision.”
The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has rejected almost all applications from Russian athletes to participate in international competitions. The IAAF allowed only the Russian long jumper Daria Klishina to participate in the competition.
Klishina will also be able to participate in the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro as a “neutral” athlete. However, Klishina’s participation in a particular sporting event must be approved by its organizers, the association said in a statement.
On your page in "Facebook" Klishina thanked the IAAF and its experts who made this decision, as well as her agents, coach and sponsors.
In a press release, the IAAF said that in their applications, the Russian athletes claimed that they had been tested for doping outside Russia for a long time.
Hope for Lausanne
The Russian Olympic Committee and 68 Russian track and field athletes filed a lawsuit on July 3 with the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne (CAS). The hearing of the case is scheduled for July 19, the verdict of CAS will be announced no later than July 21.
“I think if we fail to achieve justice in CAS, we will go to a civil court,” Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said in an interview with TASS.
Commenting on the IAAF decision to TASS, Alexandra Brilliantova, head of the legal department of the Russian Olympic Committee, said: “The ROC and 68 athletes are appealing in their lawsuit [to CAS] exactly the same refusals and the reasons for which these refusals were received. No panic - all 68 people filed in advance complaints, including regarding such refusals."
"End this bacchanalia"
Illustration copyright Reuters Image caption This is not the first time that Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko has demanded the reform of international sports organizations.“We need to end this bacchanalia,” Mutko commented on the IAAF’s decision in an interview with TASS. “All criteria have been met, the All-Russian Athletics Federation (ARAF) spent enormous money on testing athletes. Now, it turns out, this cannot be trusted, judging by the letters that The IAAF sent it to our athletes? But the British are testing us..."
Last November, IAAF Russian athletes from international competitions. This was a consequence of the doping scandal in Russian athletics. An investigation by the German television channel ARD and then by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) showed that Russian athletes systematically took doping.
On June 17, the IAAF did not lift the disqualification from the All-Russian Athletics Federation (ARAF). The association said that in order to take part in the Rio Games, Russian athletes must prove that they did not take doping. Even in this case, they will only be able to compete as “neutral” athletes, that is, not as part of the Russian team.
The IOC announced the disqualification of the Russian athletics team, but clarified that athletes who prove that they did not use doping will be able to compete at the Olympics in Rio under the Russian flag.
As of today, out of all the Russians who submitted individual applications, only one long jumper, Daria Klishina, has been admitted to international competitions. The fate of the rest will be decided on July 19 in Lausanne at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, after a hearing in a class action lawsuit against the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). A day earlier in Toronto, the main conclusions will be announced by Richard McLaren’s independent commission, which worked on the “Sochi” statements of the ex-head of the Moscow anti-doping laboratory Grigory Rodchenkov.
Taking into account all the circumstances involved, it is better not to expect a positive decision from arbitration.
We must be prepared for the fact that neither Isinbayeva, nor Shubenkov, nor Kuchina will perform in Rio. And the patriotic public has already condemned Klishin for her willingness to perform under the white Olympic flag, for betrayal and treason to the Motherland.
The point is not that Daria Klishina has very little chance of winning an Olympic medal. And it’s not that she’s been living and training in the USA for three years. And not even that Klishina expressed gratitude “for the competent decision,” including the IAAF (I wonder if she should have spit in the face of Sebastian Coe’s department for admission to Rio?).
The point is what kind of monster we have awakened, nurtured and nurtured. They haven’t yet called for Klishina to be shot, the rest has already been said. And not in a state of extreme overexcitation, but out of conviction. She did not voluntarily refuse the Games, showing solidarity with her comrades, which means she committed an act of treason. Atta her!
It’s time for the Kremlin to get seriously scared—the game of patriotism has gone too far. Sometimes they try to calm the monster down and slightly reason with him, but his roar already drowns out all the voices in defense of the same Klishina. They defend it not very convincingly, with reservations so as not to tease the mass audience too much. And she is busy looking for enemies. Traitors. Traitors. Insufficient patriots.
I wonder if Elena Isinbayeva had encountered the current situation while still living abroad, would she have chosen the same tactics to protect her rights as she does now? Or, having received a “pass” (and she would certainly have received one if she lived in Italy), would she agree to the proposed conditions? But now Isinbayeva lives in her native Volgograd and does not meet the stated criteria of the IAAF, which is why she was refused. Now, following Minister Vitaly Mutko, she is calling for the dissolution of the international athletics department as an organization that has discredited itself.
Isinbayeva says she will go to the end. And Peskov says the same thing. And Mutko. And a lot more people. God grant that the Arbitration for Sport listens, the IIAF becomes ashamed, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) relents, and the International Olympic Committee opens the way to Rio for everyone. But Daria Klishina, the girl from the cover, what did she manage to do that was so bad? She did not betray her homeland. She published quite adequate responses to the claims of the respectable public. She expressed hope for a successful conclusion to this entire monstrous story.
But they are ready to grind her into dust only because Klishina initially behaved like a free person.
...The criteria that members of the disqualified All-Russian Athletics Federation had to meet to get into Rio were impossible to meet from the start. Klishina fit them (she lives abroad, is checked by the local anti-doping services, has no business with Russians), the rest did not fit. Koe's department, very concerned about its damaged image, could not back down.
I don’t want to guess how the “trials” in Toronto and Lausanne will end. Russia has made a lot of mistakes, and few people know how much more can be added in the coming days. On the other side there are also those fighters and knights. Of course, we should have been punished - we deserved it. But the way to put “one size fits all” is not the noblest. Vulnerable. At least legally.
And with the protection, separation of the “pure from the unclean” and other measures of our valiant officials, today it turned out even worse.
But the attack is all right. Daria Klishina knows.
Scandal surrounding a Russian athlete Daria Klishina flared up after she thanked the IAAF for allowing her to participate in the Rio Olympics. The Russian long jumper expressed her gratitude to the association, completely forgetting that the same federation had suspended all other Russian athletes.
The International Federation of Athletics has rejected almost all Russian athletes from participating in the games to be held in Rio de Janeiro. The only exception was made for Daria Klishina. After this, Daria published a statement in which she thanks the federation, as well as her agents, sponsors, the American Athlete Training Center and her coach Lauren Seagrave. This statement outraged users of social networks, who did not mince words and expressed everything they thought to the Russian athlete. According to users, Klishina, with her statement, expressed a complete lack of solidarity with other Russian athletes, whom the IAAF deprived of the opportunity to compete at the Olympics. Moreover, some users call this behavior almost Klishina betrayal, invite her to send an application for American citizenship, and also claim that gratitude to the IAAF will forever remain an indelible stain on Klishina’s conscience and sports biography.
Users were divided into two camps. Some call such an act a betrayal, while others support Daria and wish her to win, compete for everyone, become an Olympic champion and prove that Russia, even with one athlete, can show the highest level of skill.
Herself Daria Klishina replied angry users that she now needs the support of her compatriots. On her Facebook page, the athlete wrote: “Dear friends, now more than ever we need your support. No one should give up." Daria also emphasized that it is too early to talk about the exclusion of athletes from Russia, since the Court of Arbitration for Sport is still pending: “We should wait for the upcoming court decision and hope that it will be in favor of Russian athletes.” On the website of the All-Russian Athletics Federation, the athlete wrote: “It seems to me that scolding me and calling me a traitor to the motherland is wrong. I’m waiting until the last minute and hoping that I won’t go to the Olympic Games alone.”
The applications of 68 track and field athletes from Russia to participate in the 2016 Olympics in Rio were rejected by the IAAF athletics federation. Among those who found themselves suspended was track and field athlete Elena Isinbaeva, who after the incident called the decision “a stinking mess.” Daria Klishina was the only one allowed to take part in the Olympic Games.
The 26-year-old athlete won a world championship medal for the first time in her career - and immediately a silver one. From the fourth time. The girl achieved a distance of 7 meters. The press rejoices, the fans rejoice!
But almost a year ago, after the failure of the long-legged blonde at the Games in Rio de Janeiro, most experts gave up on the girl. Like, yes, she’s popular, yes, she’s nice, but she’s far from a top-level track and field athlete. The famous champions shrugged. " I was upset not so much because of the place, but because I didn’t see the sparkle in her eyes", - the disgruntled 2004 Olympic champion in the long jump, Tatyana Lebedeva, shared her impressions then.
Well, maybe Dasha’s eyes didn’t sparkle, they didn’t glow, but what kind of brilliance could you even talk about when you’re alone against everyone? Against strangers, and even against our own...
It's no joke, at the Olympics in Brazil, Dasha was the only athlete from Russia - the rest were banned from going to Rio due to a huge doping scandal. Foreign athletes looked at her askance - suddenly in chemistry; they called their own a traitor. How? She agreed to compete at the Olympics, and didn’t stomp her foot out of solidarity. It seemed that failure was expected from Klishina in advance... Moreover, they wanted it for her.
But Dasha passed all the tests with honor and a smile: the machinations of Richard McLaren, accusations of “betrayal”, the hype around her person and... such a bitter ninth place at the Games. In the first attempt, Klishina showed 6.63, the second brought her a result even less - 6.60. The third one is 6.53.
Almost no one supported the athlete then... And she, brushing off the taint of disappointment, continued to work hard. After all, the main people believed in her - her parents and mentor Lauren Seagrave.
According to the ex-head of ARAF Valentin Balakhnichev, in the situation in which Klishina found herself at the Games in Brazil, not everyone would be able to show themselves in all their glory.
“Rio de Janeiro stands apart in the career of any participant in this Olympics, which is incomplete without our athletics presence,” Balakhnichev told Life. - And especially in the career of the only member of the Russian team, Daria Klishina. Enormous psychological pressure and the lack of a familiar environment could not but affect her performance in Brazil.
In addition, changing a coach is rarely painless for an athlete and takes time (In 2013, Dasha left coach Olga Shemigon for the outstanding athlete Lauren Seagrave. - Approx. Life).
Judging by the excellent result in London, now Dasha is doing well: she is calm and ready for exploits. Klishina forgot about the failure in Rio and finally got used to her new foreign mentor. In addition, shortly before the World Cup, the girl gained moral strength in her native Tver and... in Italy.
While her rivals were tormenting themselves with training, Klishina worked for her own pleasure, walked, swam and fed on positive emotions in a small Italian commune - Rieti.
Dasha’s cousin Maxim, who also once was a long jumper, also contributed to the athlete’s silver medal. " He called Dasha after qualifying and said that he would hit her on the head if she didn’t get rid of all unnecessary thoughts and worries.“, Klishina’s first coach, Yuri Kirillov, shared with the Tver information portal Tverisport.ru.
Girl prodigy
Daria Klishina became famous in her early youth. At first, the talented girl played volleyball in her native Tver, but later her father, an athlete, sent his daughter to individual sports. At the age of 13, Moscow coach Olga Shemigon noticed the skinny blond girl at competitions and secured a place for her at the Olympic reserve school. Thus began the rapid sports career of a girl from a city between Moscow and St. Petersburg.
At the 2010 World Indoor Championships in Doha, the 19-year-old Russian took fifth place. A year later, at the youth continental championship, Daria showed the second best result of the season in the world among adults and set a record at the European Youth Championships - 7.05, and in 2013 she won gold at the Universiade in Kazan.
Blonde hair and a sweet smile became Dasha’s calling card - foreign media called the girl “the sexiest Russian athlete.” And then an injury, a conflict with the coach and a move to the USA... Such changes do not pass painlessly - a decline inevitably set in... until 2017.
Yes, this season before the World Championships Dasha did not show high results. But is it really that important when the silver of London hangs on your chest? The coach prepared his ward for the main competition. And that's all that matters.
Posted by Darya Klishina on the track (@daria_on_the_track) Aug 12, 2017 at 7:35 PDT
Seven meters is not the limit
After the London final, which will definitely become a turning point in Dasha’s career, Seagrave said that his ward is able to jump further. Once the athlete already crossed the seven-meter mark. All that's left to do is to repeat and improve the result.
It’s too early to hand out medals for the Tokyo Games, but Klishina already has some advantage, says Balakhnichev. “I’m sure everything is ahead for her.”
- Valentin Vasilyevich, but many people gave up on Dasha after the Rio Games...
You see, only the athlete himself can put an end to it - a serious injury or doping. Without going into technical details, which are of interest only to a narrow circle of specialists, now Dasha looks more confident psychologically and more stable technically.
After Dasha stepped off the podium at the World Championships, she thanked all those people who believed in her all these years through her Instagram page:
I don't have many words right now, but I just want to say thank you so much for your support! To everyone who believed in me, and, of course, to my amazing team,” Klishina wrote.
Our famous pole vaulter Elena Isinbaeva was one of the first to congratulate Dasha on her silver medal. “Daria Klishina just won her first silver medal at the World Championships with a very decent result - 7 meters. Well done!”, the two-time Olympic champion wrote on her page on the social network.
Posted by Yelena Isinbaeva (@isinbaevayelena) Aug 11, 2017 at 12:53 PDT
Well done indeed! You can watch this jump endlessly...
Posted by Yug Sport (@yug_sport) Aug 12, 2017 at 12:27 PDT
The desire of the only Russian athlete admitted to the 2016 Olympics to thank sponsors and international officials outraged Internet users.
source: images.aif.ru
The only Russian athlete who received permission to compete at the 2016 Olympics, Daria Klishina, came under fire from social network users. The reason was the excessive, in the opinion of part of the Internet audience, expression of gratitude to IAAF officials for admission to the competition.
Let us remind you that on June 23, the association allowed Russian track and field athletes to apply for participation in international competitions on an individual basis. They must provide evidence of non-involvement in the doping scandal, due to which the All-Russian Athletics Federation was disqualified.
On July 10, it became known that the IAAF rejected 67 Russian individual applications out of 68. Among those who did not receive permission were two-time Olympic champion in pole vault Elena Isinbayeva and current world champion in the 110 m hurdles Sergei Shubenkov.
Officials of the international federation considered that the Russians, including Isinbayeva and Shubenkov, did not provide sufficient evidence of their non-involvement in doping cases.
The only exception was long jumper Daria Klishina, who has been training and living in the USA in recent years. This fact seemed convincing to officials in terms of proof of “purity”.
“I would like to thank the IAAF for this decision and, of course, my team, agents and sponsors”
At the same time, the IAAF, despite previously made statements by the International Olympic Committee, insists that Klishina at the Games will have to compete not under the Russian flag, but as a “neutral” athlete.
Daria Klishina decided to express her gratitude for the permission on her Facebook page: “The news that I have the right to participate in all international competitions, including the Olympics in Rio, came late today. I'm truly happy. I want to thank the IAAF for this decision and, of course, my team, agents and sponsors who have supported me throughout this time, I want to give a special thanks to my outstanding coach Lauren Seagrave, without whom my career simply would not have happened. I appreciate all the efforts of IMG agency and its staff in creating the best, safest and cleanest environment for me.”
Such a scattering of gratitude to officials and sponsors seemed inappropriate to many, especially considering the fact that dozens of Daria Klishina’s teammates were refused.
“Isn’t this humiliating for you?”
“Not a word about other Russian athletes, because you are the only one who was given the green light by the IAAF in RIO. No solidarity???” - user Alexander Agafonov was indignant.
“No, I would have been happy for her if she hadn’t publicly thanked the IAAF! And so... She, they say, is like that, and Elena Isinbaeva and others are bad,” noted Yuri Abramov.
“A person lives in the USA, why is he considered a Russian athlete? The flag is a fist, but American and incidental...” wrote Valery Sabantsev.
“It looks like the jumper jumped so well that she jumped out of her own country. No matter how you perform there, you will no longer have fans in Russia,” this is the opinion of Nikolai Ivanov.
“Have you decided to compete under a neutral flag? Isn't this humiliating for you? Maybe you really should change your citizenship,” writes Igor Klyukvin.
“She doesn’t see herself on the team. One of all Russian athletes at the Olympics. A reason to feel happy. There is no feeling of solidarity, no feeling of support for teammates who worked and prepared for the Olympics and who were suspended for unknown reasons,” noted Vitaly Arutyunov.
Stupid “patriots” found treason here.”
It must be said that the opinions of the Internet audience were divided. Klishina’s supporters included both those who believe that sport is outside of politics and those who, to put it mildly, are not very sympathetic to the political regime in today’s Russia.
“I will root for Russia in your person, Daria! ;) P.S. It’s not your fault that the current Russian authorities ruined its reputation (unfortunately), and you don’t bear any responsibility for it!” - this is the opinion of user Alexander Novikov.
“The IAAF allowed a young beautiful Russian girl to perform at the Olympic Games, she thanked the IAAF for this, and the stupid “patriots” found treason here. I never tire of being amazed by Russian “patriots”. And congratulations to Dasha),” writes Michael Potapov.
Daria Klishina herself, in response to reproaches, stated that she had been training in the USA for three years. “Therefore, scolding me and calling me a traitor to the motherland, it seems to me, is wrong. I’m waiting until the last minute and hoping that I won’t go to the Olympic Games alone, I want to believe that the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne will make a positive decision for all of us,” the athlete noted.
“Dear friends, now more than ever we need your support. No one should give up, and we should wait for the upcoming court decision and hope that it will be in favor of Russian athletes and that our team will still be able to go to the Olympics in Rio,” Klishina later wrote on Facebook.
Isinbayeva and others are waiting for “doomsday”
The final authority that can admit Russian track and field athletes to the 2016 Olympics remains the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). His decision on the claims of Russian track and field athletes is due to be announced on July 19, that is, less than three weeks before the start of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
The most titled active Russian athlete, Elena Isinbaeva, commenting on the IAAF’s decision to reject all individual applications of Russian athletes, except for the application of Daria Klishina, called it a manifestation of weakness. “What they threw away confirms their weakness, their helplessness. For them there is no presumption of innocence. They cannot prove who is honest in Russia and who is not. They prove their ineffectiveness. I would disband this entire federation and change the leadership once again. It is ineffective, it is ruining world athletics,” TASS quotes Isinbayeva as saying.
25-year-old Daria Klishina is a two-time European champion in indoor long jump, winner of the 2013 Universiade, and also holder of the title “Sexiest Athlete in Russia - 2010.”
At the 2016 Russian Athletics Championships, Daria Klishina won the gold medal with a score of 6.84 m. Klishina set her best result in her career back in 2011, flying 7.05 m and setting a Russian junior record.
