TIL Desk Sports/ Two-time Olympic pole vault champion Yelena Isinbayeva announced her retirement with a bitter broadside at international athletics chief Sebastian Coe over the Olympic ban imposed on Russian athletes for state-sponsored doping. “Yelena Isinbayeva is finishing her career today,” the 34-year-old told reporters a day after being elected onto the International Olympic Committee’s athletes commission.
“I thought I would be very sad but the election has inspired me. I am not saying goodbye to sport, just to my sport. “But I am happy I have fulfilled myself and achieved my dreams,” added the world record holder. Isinbayeva was unable to defend her title in Rio after the Russian squad was banned by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) over a state-sponsored doping scandal which rocked track and field.
Had she not been excluded from the Russian team in Rio, she would have been lining up for the pole vault final in the Olympic Stadium later Friday. “Why am I here and not preparing for the final? Because the IAAF set criteria that were impossible to meet,” she said.
