Russia’s Yelena Isinbayeva eyes Oly swansong

Russian star Yelena Isinbayeva is hopeful of participation in her fifth and last Olympics at Rio. (Photo: AFP)

Pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva had nearly abandoned all hope of ending her stellar career with a third Olympic gold in Rio, saying she would hang up her spikes at a far less glamourous event on the banks of the Volga.

But the International Olympic Committee’s announcement on Tues-day that Russian athletes who are individually screened by world athletics governing body, the IAAF, might be allowed to compete in Rio under Russia’s flag has revived the two-time Olympic champion’s Rio dreams.

“Today I have to admit that deep down there is hope,” Isinbayeva said after winning the Russian championship in Chebo-ksary with a 4.90-metre vault. “It hasn’t died completely.”

The crowd-pleasing athlete, 34, asked for the bar to be raised to 5.07m to the rhythmic clapping of an extatic crowd, in an attempt to beat the 5.06m world record she set in 2009.

Isinbayeva missed but celebrated her national championship victory with a backflip on the landing area in what was her first official competition since 2013 due to giving birth to a daughter in 2014. Russia’s pole vault tsarina had said that Tuesday’s national championship final in Cheboksary would be the last track and field meet of her professional career if she could not compete in Rio.

IAAF’s decision last week had cast heavy doubt about whether Isinbayeva would be taking part in her fifth and final Olympics in Rio. But the IOC’s announcement might now give her a loophole to end her career on the world stage after all.