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She was part of the team that helped Russia win the right to host soccer's 2018 World Cup. Isinbayeva has set 28 world records in her career and won seven major titles, including gold medals at the 20 Olympics. When we arrive to different countries, we try to follow their rules." "We have our home and everyone has to respect (it). Maybe we are different from European people and other people from different lands," Isinbayeva told reporters. It's unrespectful to our citizens, because we are Russians. Isinbayeva said it was wrong for the Swedes to make such a statement while competing in Russia.
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Russian anti gay flag free#
"Allied to this is our belief in free expression as a basic human right, which means we must respect the opinions of both Green Tregaro and Isinbayeva." "The IAAF constitution underlines our commitment to principle of nondiscrimination in terms of religious, political or sexual orientation," IAAF spokesman Nick Davies told The Associated Press. The IAAF, the sport's governing body, said both opinions should be respected. "Some teammates have done the same," Sweden team spokesman Fredrik Trahn said. Swedish sprinter Moa Hjelmer also had her nails painted in the rainbow colors when she ran in the 200-meter heats. "Then I had a suggestion from a friend on Instagram that maybe I could paint my nails in the colors of the rainbow and that felt like a simple, small thing that maybe could trigger some thoughts." "The first thing that happened when I came to Moscow and pulled my curtains aside was that I saw the rainbow and that felt a little ironic," Green Tregaro said in a video posted on the website of Swedish newspaper Expressen. We never had any problems, these problems in Russia, and we don't want to have any in the future."Īt least two Swedish athletes competed Thursday with their fingernails painted in rainbow colors at Luzhniki Stadium, the venue that also hosted the 1980 Moscow Olympics.Įmma Green Tregaro, who won a bronze medal at the 2005 worlds, posted a picture of her fingers on the social media site Instagram, saying "Nails painted in the colors of the rainbow." She followed that with several hashtags, including "#pride" and "#moscow2013." "We just live with boys with woman, woman with boys. "If we allow to promote and do all this stuff on the street, we are very afraid about our nation because we consider ourselves like normal, standard people," Isinbayeva, a two-time Olympic champion, said in English. The Russian, who won her third world title Tuesday in front of a boisterous home crowd, came out in favor of the law which has drawn sharp criticism and led Western activists to call for a boycott of next year's Winter Olympics in the Russian resort of Sochi. MOSCOW (AP) - Pole vault great Yelena Isinbayeva condemned homosexuality Thursday after criticizing fellow competitors who painted their fingernails in rainbow colors to support gays and lesbians in the face of a new anti-gay law in Russia.