Is Yelena Isinbayeva a traitor to Vladimir Putin? Is she really a pacifist who rejects the war in Ukraine, but doesn’t dare say so? Does she keep her personal support for Putin intact and is it all an international image laundering campaign to get her work back in the International Olympic Committee? The mystery surrounds one of the best pole vaulters of all time, now confined in Tenerife with her husband and two childrenwhile the Russian invasion in the Ukraine continues as alive as the first day.
But let’s start at the beginning. On July 22, 2005, in London, Isinbayeva broke down one of those barriers that were thought to be unthinkable in athletics. He grabbed her pole, pushed himself on top of her, and his body went over the five meter bar that he had asked to be placed. A new world record, the 12th of the 17 that he ended up achieving in his career, for a test whose record stood at 4.60 just five years earlier.
Isinbayeva was already, and forever since, a world sports star, one of the best athletes of all time. Also too great a propaganda temptation for a master of the subject like Vladimir Putin to ignore. That girl born in Volvograd, a gymnast in her beginnings, face and feats known throughout the world, she had to serve the patriotic glory of her Russia. No option to reply on her part.
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Isinbayeva’s awards
Parallel to his medals and the sports decorations he was receiving (two Laureus and the Prince of Asturias from 2009 included), was receiving recognition and positions of a political nature in his country. She is part of Putin’s Council for the development of culture and sports in the country and was one of the people appointed to participate in the process of reform of the Constitution of the Russian Federation. He was also part of Putin’s presidential campaign in 2018, the year of his last re-election.
What is striking, however, is his alleged immersion in the country’s military career. Isinbayeva is part of CSKA, the sports club owned by the army during the communist dictatorship and still today with important ties to the country’s Armed Forces. She returned to the club, still active, in 2015, when she signed a contract, as published in the Russian press and now she denies (we will get to that) receiving the position of major of the army that continues, in theory, currently showing.
She also has strong ties to the Russian army. While competing for the CSKA sports club, Isinbayeva became a major of the Russian Army. pic.twitter.com/yCvKcM3UVV
— Georgy Alburov (@alburov) July 17, 2023
That alleged military career came into severe conflict with his career in international sports offices, after the sanction in 2017 of the Russian Olympic Committee for State doping practices which he turned to for years. Before, he had already been left out of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games as a result of the sanctions imposed on his country’s athletics.
Member of the IOC Athletes’ Commission
All this did not prevent her from being elected by other athletes as members of the athletes’ commission in 2016, a position for eight years and, therefore, will not expire until after the Olympic event next summer in Paris. The IOC came to provisionally suspend Isinbayeva for the war in Ukrainebut his Ethics Commission determined that he is not actually in the pay of the Russian army (despite his military position), so in September he will resume his activities with the IOC.
All this sum of circumstances led the President of Ukraine, Volodímir Zelenski, to sanction it a few months ago during 50 years without being able to enter the country invaded, as were three other Russian IOC members. A sanction that also extends to the assets that she may own in the country, although there is no record that Isinbayeva has any property on Ukrainian soil.
Isinbayeva now resides in Tenerife
And although all the facts and indications place her on the side of Putin and the Russian invaders, recent events invite doubt. A few days ago it was learned that the former athlete she has moved to Arona, in Tenerife, together with her husband and children, entering the island on May 30. A striking move for someone like her in a situation of international tension like the one that Russia has caused.
To try to shed light on the matter, Isinbayeva herself made a statement, written in Spanish, on her official Instagram account. In it she defines herself as a “citizen [sic] of the world” and remarks that the military titles “of which he speaks today have a nominative character since they I am not and have never been in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. In addition [sic]I have never been a deputy of the State Duma (Russian Parliament) or a member of any party.”
Despite the apparent forcefulness of her words, Isinbayeva did not take advantage of the post to make any consideration about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, of course not to condemn it either. Neither the war itself, nor the Putin regime from whom she received so many decorations. Omissions that cause Ukraine to look at this presumed and timid reconversion of the ex-athlete with suspicion. Some media reflect that she defined herself as “a person of peace”but that expression does not appear in its posts on networks, nor in the Russian (VK) and English (Facebook) versions.
Disowned in her native Russia
Where they have seen it clearly is in Russia. First, Sergei Malekov, president of Dagestan, one of the republic-shaped regions that make up Russia, announced a few days ago that he has decided to remove the name of Isinbayeva from an athletics stadium. “That they name a pavilion in Spain in honor of her”he argued with obvious spite.
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Later, the one who showed his disapproval of the former athlete was Putin’s Sports Minister, Oleg Matitsin: “It is unacceptable to value in this way the military rank, the civil position and the events underway in your native country.. Every person who loves her country will undoubtedly react negatively to such statements.”
In Russia they now reject it and in Ukraine they don’t believe it. Publicly, he does not support the war, but he does not reject it either.. There is no record that she has renounced those “nominal” titles of which she speaks. And the only certainty is, after successfully passing the IOC ethical investigation, he will resume his activity in the world Olympics in the coming weeks, which casts doubt on whether or not his turn is for mere professional interest. The balance he maintains seems impossible. But it was also jumping five meters with a pole and…
2023-07-21 06:06:42
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