Olympic champion Yelena Isinbayeva plans to sue if Russia banned from Rio
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Yelena Isinbayeva, a two-time Olympic champion in the pole vault, says that she plans to file a lawsuit if Russia’s ban from international track and field competition is upheld by the IAAF and she is unable to compete at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, according to the Associated Press.
Russia has been banned from competing internationally after a report was released by the World Anti-Doping Agency that uncovered evidence of systemic and state-sponsored doping in Russia.
Russia did not compete at the 2016 world indoor championships in March. Russian athletes have not been able to compete at the year's first few Diamond League meets.
The IAAF will meet next month and determine whether to reinstate Russia ahead of the Olympics.
Isinbayeva told the Associated Press that “in the case of a negative ruling for us, I will personally go to an international court regarding human rights.”
Isinbayeva has not competed since 2013, when she won gold at the IAAF World Championships in Moscow. She took a break from the sport after giving birth to a daughter in 2014.
• 100 storylines that will dominate the Summer Olympics
Last week, The New York Timesrevealed the lengths to which Russian Olympic officials went to beat anti-doping testing and make sure that their dirty athletes would not test positive for performance enhancing drugs. The Times report came just a few days after 60 Minutes’ own investigation on cheating in Sochi.
- Chris Chavez
