The Russian public this week again recalled the statements of Yelena Isinbayeva, made by the two-time Olympic champion in the pole vault more than a month ago. The athlete then announced on social networks that she was a "nominal major", called herself a "man of peace" and announced the upcoming resumption of work at the IOC. The reason to remember the world record holder was the decree of the government of the Republic of Dagestan, according to which the stadium in Makhachkala, which since 2017 bore the name of the titled athlete, was returned to the name "Trud".
This decision was initiated by the head of the region Sergey Melikov. And many politicians supported him. Thus, the head of the State Duma Committee on Physical Culture and Sports, Dmitry Svishchev, said that Isinbayeva practically renounced everything related to Russia.
"I think that there is nothing wrong with Elena herself, who has been living abroad for a long time. It is unlikely that she plans to visit the stadium in the near future. And you have to count how many times she was there. When Isinbayeva was a star, speaking for Russia and supporting it, this is one situation. And now the honored and famous athlete has practically disowned what is connected with Russia. It would be strange if the stadium continued to bear her name. There is no tragedy, everything fell into place, "Sport-Express quotes Svishchev as saying.
State Duma deputy and former WBA world boxing champion Nikolai Valuev also reacted normally to the renaming of the stadium.
"This decision is based on the wishes of the people. The government reacted, there was no point in expecting anything else. This is an attitude towards any kind of betrayal. Like it or not, but people wanted to. This is not a bad story, as an edification for everyone else. Example? There must be consequences for any actions. The world of adults is like that. Public people should watch what they say and what they do," Valuev explained.
However, almost all current and former athletes did not agree with this decision of the authorities of Dagestan, since Isinbayeva's achievements in the high jump are undeniable: she set 28 world records and went down in the history of athletics. Three-time Olympic champion Irina Rodnina compared the renaming of the stadium with the demolition of monuments.
"Lena will forever remain in the memory of Russian sports as a record holder, Olympic champion and outstanding athlete. This must always be remembered! But in the recent situation, Isinbayeva got out as best she could. Therefore, her behavior caused such a reaction in people. There is a rule in sports – fair play. She violated this rule in this situation," Rodnina said in a comment to Sport24.
According to the former world champion in the 110-meter hurdles Sergey Shubenkov, Isinbayeva simply did not think about the text that she published on social networks, which is why such a situation arose.
"I am a supporter of the version that she made her statement in order to continue working in the IOC and benefit herself ... I was not surprised at all by the statement. I will say this: Lena is an absolutely sincere person, but she needs to be more careful and think better before she says something, "RIA Novosti quoted Shubenkov as saying.
Silver medalist of the 2003 World Championships in high jump Marina Kuptsova, in turn, urged not to consider Isinbayeva a traitor to Russia.
"Everyone is in a hurry to cross out, forget, rename something. A person's words can be interpreted in different ways. Elena never had thoughts of betraying Russia. She has a very long sports career. Even in difficult times, she did not go anywhere, she spoke for Russia to the end. I don't understand what claims can now be against her," said the athlete.
"I think that there is not a very correct and undeserved reaction. When it was necessary to be proud of her achievements, everyone was proud. And her father's countrymen, and the population of Volgograd. And after the article of some Spanish journalist, the reaction was as if everyone began to help the other side," Kuptsova added.
At the same time, the former president of the All-Russian Athletics Federation, Valentin Balakhnichev, called the decision of the Dagestani authorities hasty and called for a delicate approach to the process of assigning or removing names to sports facilities, since this process has a serious moral connotation.
"It seems to me that the renaming of the stadium is a bit too much. I have no right to criticize the government of Dagestan and other structures of the republic that are responsible for assigning the names of famous athletes and citizens of Dagestan to sports and other facilities. Nevertheless, it seems to me that this was done in a hurry and it was necessary to approach this issue in more detail. And listen to the explanations of Yelena Isinbayeva herself," the specialist assessed the situation.
And commentator Dmitry Guberniev even advised officials to do more important things for society than renaming the stadium.
"Isinbayeva was and is a true sports hero and a hero of Russia. As a person, you can treat her as you like, everyone's business. But her sporting services to the whole country and to the whole planet cannot be taken away. The leadership of Dagestan was somewhat hasty with such a decision," Guberniev said. - Speaking of stadiums, now I live in Kaspiysk and with pain in my heart I watch the abandoned Trud stadium and the abandoned football fields. I think now is the time to reconstruct these facilities. Because in these stadiums you can shoot films not even about the removal of Malenkov, but about the expulsion of Trotsky.
Vasily Utkin spoke in the same vein. According to the commentator, it would be much more useful if officials finally made a sector for pole vaulting at the Trud stadium and opened the corresponding section.
And Tatyana Navka previously stressed that we must not forget how many times, thanks to Isinbayeva, the Russian anthem sounded at major international tournaments.
"As for her work in the IOC, it is very important to continue it. Now we have very, very limited opportunities to work in international sports organizations. And we must use these opportunities as efficiently as possible. She has such an opportunity, and I have no doubt that she will use her opportunities for our country. As for emotional screams, this is the lot of those people who do not understand anything about high-performance sports!" said the Olympic champion.
At the same time, World Athletics decided to delete Isinbayeva from their history, not including the victories of the Russian woman in the top 40 best moments of the world championships over the past 40 years.