"I am opposed to any discrimination against gay people on the grounds of their sexuality."

Isinbayeva's clarification was acknowledged by the International Olympic Committee, which released the following statement: "We take note of Yelena Isinbayeva's statement this morning.

"Clearly English is not her mother tongue and she has now clarified that she was misunderstood and that she is 'opposed to any kind of discrimination against gay people.'

"We can only reiterate that the Olympic Games should be open to all, free of discrimination, and that applies to spectators, officials, media and of course athletes."

Yelena Isinbayeva has claimed that she does not support discrimination of any kind

Essar Gabriel, secretary general of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), also welcomed Isinbayeva's statement.

He told the BBC: "I think Yelena is very genuine about this.

"I know Yelena very well myself, it is correct her English and her understanding of English is not the best and it's great that she sought to explain exactly what she meant"

Gabriel added that Isinbayeva should be more careful in the future.

"You have to tool yourself with the way you address the way you talk to the mass media and to the people," he said.

"She is somebody who has a great heart, and if she has a lack of English language which we know of she certainly should be careful.

"When I saw them ([Thursday's comments] I thought that doesn't respond to the character and what we know of Yelena."

The comments raised a predictable reaction of dismay around the world.

"Isinbayeva is a great sportwoman but I thought she was more intelligent than this," tweeted Nikolai Alexeyev, one of Russia's most prominent gay activists.

Rustem Adagamov, one of Russian top bloggers, commented: "Basically it's like this: jumping five metres high with a pole does not make an intelligent person, OK."

The law, signed in June by Russia's president Vladimir Putin, makes it illegal to give under-18s information about homosexuality.

It has been widely condemned and has led to calls for a boycott of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi - where Isinbayeva will be the Mayor of the Athletes' Village.

Isinbayeva has publicly supported Putin as leader and has been one of group of sportsmen and women allowed to campaign officially for him.

Yelena Isinbayeva has publicly backed Russian President Vladimir Putin, who signed the controversial anti-gay law in June which has caused so much controversy around the world

Earlier this week, United States runner Nick Symmonds dedicated his world 800m silver medal to his gay and lesbian friends, while Swedish high jumper Emma Green-Tregaro painted her fingernails in the colours of the rainbow flag, a gesture which Isinbayeva described as "disrespectful" to the host country.

Symmonds added: "As much as I can speak out about it I believe that all humans deserve equality, however God made them.

"Whether you are gay, straight, black or white we all deserve the same rights.

"If there's anything I can do to champion the cause and further it I will, short of getting arrested."

Britain's former Olympic heptathlon champion Denise Lewis commented live on BBC after Isinbayeva's first comments: "She's clearly not in touch with the rest of the world and I'm surprised that her management wouldn't have advised her to be a little more cautious before putting her view out there.

"It's very damning for her as a global figure."

BBC pundits Denise Lewis (centre) and Michael Johnson (right) have both condemned Yelena Isinbayeva remarks, which are widely seen as supporting Russia's new anti-gay laws

Former world and Olympic 400m champion Michael Johnson of the United States, also working here for the BBC, added: "They haven't had much control over her the last few years, they have pretty much given up.

"She has burned a lot of bridges over the last three years but she is very powerful with a small group of very influential people here, very wealthy and very powerful people that have been surrounding her for the last three years.

"She is thinking more insular.

"Who are the people who are supporting me and will support me in the future?

"But it's a very flawed judgement."

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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