Klishina hopeful over 'clean Russian' criteria

Florida-based longer jumper Darya Klishina has reason to be hopeful despite the IAAF's ban on Russian track and field athletes competing at the Rio Olympics.

The 25-year-old Russian hopes she might be eligible to compete at the Games as a neutral after the IAAF left the door slightly ajar for clean Russian athletes based abroad to compete in Rio independently. 

"This is a small hope for me," Klishina, who trains in Bradenton, Florida, told AFP on Monday at Russia's athletics championship in Cheboksary, adding that she is certain she "feels much better than other athletes" whose odds are much slimmer than hers.

World athletics governing body the IAAF unanimously voted on Friday to maintain Russia's suspension -- first imposed in November -- over evidence of state-sponsored doping and mass corruption in track and field.
Pending a final decision on the criteria for clean Russian athletes to compete in Rio -- something that is expected to be discussed at the Olympic Summit in Lausanne on Tuesday -- Klishina and other Russian athletes remain hopeful.

"I'm going to wait for tomorrow's decision, like everybody," Klishina said.

Russia's athletics federation chief Dmitry Shlyakhtin said on Monday that the country remained in the dark over which athletes can compete as neutrals at the Rio Games but said Klishina might be able to compete.

In the immediate aftermath of the IAAF's decision, Russian officials and athletes said they were counting on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to soften or revise the ruling to allow clean Russian athletes to compete in Rio.

Sports minister Vitaly Mutko told R-Sport news agency on Friday that he hoped the IOC could "somehow correct this situation".

But on Saturday the IOC said it backed the IAAF's decision to maintain Russia's suspension. 

- 'Outside Russia' -

Other Russian athletes are more pessimistic about their chances of escaping the IAAF ban. 
Two-time Olympic poll vault champion Yelena Isinbayeva has already dismissed the prospect of competing under any other flag than the Russian tricolour.

"I am Russian, I have a country, I have a flag," Isinbayeva told reporters on Monday. "Our team isn't boycotting the Olympics and there's no war in our country. So we have no grounds to compete under the Olympic flag."

Isinbayeva said on Friday she would contest the IAAF ruling in court, a decision she said violated her human rights. 

Shlyakhtin said on Monday that the athletics federation "will probably go to court" once it receives the IAAF's final report. 

Shlyakhtin said the federation would send the IAAF a request for additional information on its criteria to check whether Russian athletes taking part in training camps in Portugal or Kyrgyzstan could be eligible.

"What does outside Russia mean?" Russia's national athletics team head coach, Yury Borzakovsky, told AFP.

"We had a three-month training camp in Portugal. If they (IAAF) want to raise their question more concretely, I suppose they are talking about the athletes who train abroad not as part of the Russian team."

Borzakovsky said he hoped a few Russian athletes would compete in Rio.

Klishina, a two-time European indoor champion, did not make the 2012 Russian Olympic team. She said her Russian teammates barred from Rio would support her decision to compete as a neutral, if she was given the opportunity.

"A few people already told me yesterday, 'you must go, even if you're going alone, you have to fight and defend the honour of our country. Go, jump and get results,'" Klishina said. 

Source: AFP