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Two-time Olympic gold medallist in the pole vault event, Yelena Isinbayeva, penned a letter to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and World Athletics (WA) to intervene with the Russian Athletics Federation (RusAF).

This is a letter in support of clean Russian athletes and comes on the heels of fellow Russians, who penned their own letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

World Athletics 110m hurdles champion Sergey Shubenkov, world champion pole vaulter Anzhelika Sidorova and Mariya Lasitskene, who is a three-time high jump champion have penned a letter to Putin demanding him to intervene in the dispute between World Athletics (WA) and the Russian Athletics Federation (RusAF).

RusAF owes a $10-million fine to WA for their corruption charges. If not paid, the few Russian athletes who are able to compete internationally under a neutral flag will no longer have that opportunity. Currently, RusAF is banned from competing internationally and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics are looming (2021), as is their qualification season.

Russian Athletics: The Natives are Restless

“In our opinion, the punishment should be borne by the Federation, not by the athletes,” wrote Isinbayeva.

“Depriving us of the opportunity to perform at international competitions is an unacceptable and excessive punishment, applying the principle of collective responsibility, forcing us to bear responsibility for the misdeeds of third parties.”Curr

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‼️Друзья, давайте спасём нашу ЛЕГКУЮ АТЛЕТИКУ вместе!🙏🏻 ⠀ ☝🏻Это открытое письмо от чистых и честных легкоатлетов нашей страны международному сообществу. Очень надеемся, что оно будет подхвачено мировой общественностью и СМИ. Нельзя допустить повторение сценария 2016 года, когда мы были лишены участия на Олимпийский играх в Рио, за ошибки, совершенные определенной группой безответственных лиц. Нельзя допустить вновь, коллективную ответственность, за так называемое «Дело Лысенко». ⠀ Понимаю сегодня суббота и особого желания напрягаться нет, но только вместе и сообща мы сможем хоть что-нибудь изменить к лучшему… ⠀ ‼️Dear friends, let's save our athletics together!🙏🏻 ⠀ ☝🏻This is an open letter from clean and honest athletes of our country to the international community. We very much hope that it will be picked up by the world public and the media. We cannot allow a repeat of the scenario of 2016, when we were denied participation in the Olympic games in Rio, for mistakes made by a certain group of irresponsible individuals. Collective responsibility for the so-called "Lysenko Case"cannot be allowed. ⠀ I understand that today is Saturday and there is no special desire to strain, but only together and we can at least change something for the better… ⠀ #cleansport#justice#worldathletics#чистыйспорт#справедливость

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Currently, Russia is under a complete competition ban and has been since 2015. The continuation of the ban will be appealed and heard by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on November 2, 20202. For athletics, no athlete may compete internationally for Russia, save for 10 neutral positions saved for apparent clean athletes of which Isinbayeva is considered one, however, the neutral positions may also be cancelled is RusAF doesn’t pay their fine of $10-million to World Athletics.

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