The two-time Olympic champion got into a big scandal this summer, making a number of very strange statements and thereby causing a real uproar in Russia. Now it became known that the famous athlete was included in the new list of the Commission of the International Olympic Committee. If before there were still doubts about the motives of her words and actions, now everything has become completely clear.
Background Let us briefly recall what happened to Elena Isinbayeva in July this year. The Spanish media found out that the Russian woman moved to the Canary Islands and lives there with her family. And not just lives, but received a residence permit and owns luxury real estate. The specifics of the situation was that the athlete completely disappeared from the information field for several years, so everyone was so interested in what was happening to her and where she was.
Still, before Elena regularly appeared at various sports and not only events, gave interviews, and actively maintained social networks. However, Isinbayeva was clearly not happy that she was finally found. The best way out of the situation, she came up with a statement on the Internet, where she uttered the now famous phrase that her rank of major in the Russian army is «nominal». And in general, she never had anything to do with the armed forces of the country, which, of course, is not true and quickly surfaced.
In general, Isinbayeva said a lot of things, to put it mildly, contradictory and, in fact, renounced any ties with her homeland. Although she previously confessed her love for Russia in every interview and even promised to live here and develop. But then there was Monaco and now the Canary Islands. By itself, the move, of course, did not cause condemnation in anyone. Yes, and could not, everyone can decide where to live.
The motives are clear. And this is sad. But when a person with such a background and such supposedly patriotic views suddenly starts saying such things, his compatriots have questions. It is not surprising that Isinbayeva began to be «cancelled» in Russia — renaming the stadium in her name in Makhachkala was just one of the steps. At the same time, it was not completely clear why the position of the two-time Olympic champion had changed so much.
The first signals came from the IOC, where, in response to criticism from Russia, she was promised a warm place in the organization. The International Olympic Committee explained this by the fact that, according to their data, she «did not support the NWO.» Publicly, Elena did not speak out on this topic at all, but the IOC, apparently, knows better. Obviously, the athlete’s plans did not include the fact that Spanish journalists would find her and photograph her. At least that fast.
This is how I had to respond. It turned out, to be honest, so-so. But for the IOC, this was the «correct statement» so that there would be no problems while maintaining a position in the Athletes' Commission, in which, by the way, she has been a member since 2016. Today, the IOC published an updated list of members of this commission. And, of course, the name of Elena Isinbayeva was also there. Moreover, the Russian woman is also listed there as a member of the commission on Olympic education.
It is also interesting that even World Athletics did not criticize the athlete, although she attacked the organization on social networks for not including her in the list of 40 women who have made the most significant contribution to the history of the world championships in athletics.
So doubts about the motives of Isinbayeva's actions have now completely disappeared. Our great champion made a choice in favor of the IOC and life in the West. It is a pity that she chose such an ugly way for this and blurred the impression of herself from a huge number of people who sincerely supported her.