Why Elena Isinbayeva refused the title: for the sake of the IOC

In everything that is happening today around the two-time Olympic champion, multiple world champion, known to the entire sports (and not only) community of the Russian pole vaulter, who set 28 world records, as well as Major of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation Elena Isinbayeva, it is very difficult to understand on the one hand, but with on the other hand, it’s very easy. It is enough just to make an effort on yourself and look into history a little deeper than July 12, 2023. And then much will become clear and understandable.

How it all started

In the Spanish-language edition of El Digital Sur, which writes about everything that happens on Tenerife, the main island of the Canary archipelago, on Wednesday, July 12, the news appeared that Elena Isinbayeva arrived on this island some time ago. And he lives, without drawing attention to himself, “in an unnamed luxurious complex.”

In general, what is special here? She came and she came. Lives – so be it. Moreover, Elena Gadzhievna has repeatedly spent some time in other countries.

But, for some reason, right now it caused such a big resonance. First of all in Russia.

Frankly, the article itself in the island newspaper looks rather strange. It would have looked more like a couple of years ago. But today is a different time.

About how and where the world record holder lives, just a couple of lines. With the clarification that Isinbayeva now lives in Tenerife “on a permanent basis. Trying not to draw attention to yourself.” And then there are lengthy arguments that she is a major in the Russian army, participated in the election campaign of Vladimir Putin in 2018, and is associated with the Yunarmiya. And of course, it is not forgotten that the ethics commission of the International Olympic Committee is checking the Olympic champion for compliance with the recommendations of the IOC Executive Board of March 28, 2023.

This is the first key to unraveling the intrigue that has arisen. Let’s leave it here until the right moment.

It is quite natural that this news (it is interesting, by the way, which was the first domestic media to quote it), immediately turned into a real sensation in our country. And events began to develop rapidly. Because today it is impossible for many well-known people to take it and defiantly stop being a patriot.

Violent discussions began. Trying to figure out what happened. Which quickly moved to a completely different plane – this is a betrayal. And now the head of Dagestan, Sergei Melikov, says that Isinbayeva’s name will be taken away from the stadium in Makhachkala and may be called Trud. And on various TV channels, talk shows are organized with the participation of composers and political scientists expressing their assessment of the act (or misconduct?) of Elena. And this is all for a reason. Not because of shattered nerves and a difficult political situation.

Elena Gadzhievna is to blame herself.

Olympic investigation

Remember the first key? We open the door.

On March 28, the IOC Executive Committee put forward new requirements for the admission of Russian and Belarusian athletes to international tournaments, about which MK has already written. They further tightened the already unimaginable criteria. It is no longer enough to be neutral – now it is also necessary not to be a member of the armed forces or security agencies of our countries. And that’s where it all started.

On March 29, IOC communications director Mark Adams said that the organization had not discussed the connection of two-time Olympic pole vault champion Yelena Isinbayeva and the head of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) Stanislav Pozdnyakov with the Russian army. After that, protests and lamentations immediately began on the part of Ukrainian and some European athletes and functionaries about the injustice of such a decision. As a result, under the powerful pressure of the “overwhelming minority”, the IOC ethics commission began an audit. Under which several representatives of Russia in this organization fell at once. Interestingly, with regard to Isinbayeva, the commission decided to take only two parts of the recommendations: “active support for hostilities and contractual obligations with military structures, and only after February 24, 2022.”

And this is the second key to unraveling what is happening.

Direct speech

Isinbayeva was silent for five days. And the story seems to be slowly fading away. After all, as we said earlier, she had lived in other countries before. But on July 17, her official statement appeared on social networks. Which is still hanging there – for example, on the verified page of Isinbayeva Vkontakte. Where before the message appeared once a year. You can familiarize yourself with it, so here are a couple of main lines:

I rarely react to any news or articles related to my name … But this time I decided to dot the i’s

– I am Yelena Isinbayeva, the legend of world track and field athletics / pole vault. Recognized as the best athlete on the planet, awarded the highest state awards for great achievements in sports.

In Russia, as in any other country in Europe, every athlete belongs to one or another sports club.

Until 2018, I played for CSKA and was awarded high awards and titles for outstanding sporting achievements. Those ranks that are being talked about today are nominal, since I am not and never have been in the service of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Just as she has never been a State Duma deputy or a member of any party.

My calling is SPORT.

I am a man of the world, always have been and always will be! I live where I work, eat what I love, communicate with those whom I value and respect.

I have always believed and will believe in the best side of every person, even those people who are “ready to throw a stone at me today” just because someone somewhere said something, wrote or distributed a photo 10 years ago, not having nothing to do with real reality. All the best!

We will return to this statement, but for now, you know what is revealing? On July 18, the IOC commission unexpectedly came to the conclusion that Isinbayeva could continue working in the organization, since she did not support the SVO and did not have a contract with the Russian army or law enforcement agencies. Thus, the Russian woman will remain in the commission of athletes of the committee. Voila.

“Photo 10 years ago”

Well, actually, not ten years old.

For example, on the website of the Ministry of Defense, anyone can find the news of February 12, 2015 under the heading “Elena Isinbayeva joined the ranks of army athletes.” In which she herself talks about enrolling her in the CSKA athletics team as an instructor athlete.

The same news said that “in order to support candidates and members of the Russian national teams in Olympic sports, by the decision of the Minister of Defense in 2013, four sports companies with a total number of 400 people were created as part of CSKA, which are deployed in Moscow, Rostov-on-Don , St. Petersburg and Samara”.

Or here is such a “photo of 10 years ago” – on May 14, 2015, senior inspector of the physical training department of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, lieutenant colonel Dmitry Vinograd told the media that Isinbayeva had been awarded the military rank of major and on May 16 she would be present in Sochi at the ceremony of taking the military oath of recruits – members of the national teams of Russia in Olympic sports, selected for service in sports companies.

On May 16, in Sochi, the Minister of Defense personally presented Isinbayeva with the epaulettes of a major. And before that, on May 6, she signed a five-year contract with the Ministry of Defense.

There were other photographs as well.

In 2003, Isinbayeva served under a contract in the railway troops. She became a senior lieutenant in August 2005. After a successful performance at the Olympic Games in Beijing, Elena Gadzhievna was awarded the title of captain.

It is unlikely that these titles can be called “nominal”, as the athlete herself informed the whole world on July 17, 2023. And the contracts she concluded (and more than once) do not correlate well with the statement that “she has never served in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.”

If any ordinary citizen of our country goes to Voentorg and just like that, “nominally”, buys himself an army tunic, even with corporal shoulder straps, and then just walks around the streets of cities and all of Russia in it, then he will have problems with the law . As for Isinbayeva, she was not just walking. Perhaps that is why the IOC commission had to limit its verification to the period “after February 24, 2022”. Since the deadlines were previously, as they say, “not an option.” And when the public repentance took place, the case was closed.

The best caption for such “photos” may be the words of the Minister of Sports Oleg Matytsin. Speaking to reporters during his speech at the State Duma on July 19, he said: “It is unacceptable to treat military rank and civil position in this way, to the events that are taking place in your country. Every person who loves his country has a negative attitude towards such statements.” Adding that there is a red line and no one will sign any declarations condemning the SVO, there will be no Russians at such tournaments.

Afterword

More specifically, a breather.

On May 20, 2023, in Saransk, at the congress of the Association of Student Sports Clubs of Russia (ASSKR), Elena Isinbayeva was replaced as president of this association by Vladimir Mineev, world and European champion in kickboxing. Isinbayeva has been the President of the ASSKR since September 24, 2019. And all this time, at student forums and congresses, she told the guys how to love their homeland. She even asked the president for money to develop the association in 2020. What will the students she spoke to now think about?

For some reason, there is still a glimmer of hope that all this is just some kind of stupid mistake. Well, if so.