They may be worthwhile

The three -time world jumping champion Elena Isinbaev can deprive the title of the Ambassador of the International Olympic Committee for homophobic statements, RIA Novosti reports. “We will consider this issue in the near future,” said the head of the IOC Jacques Rogge. The ambassador of the second summer youth Olympic Games, which in 2014 will be held in Chinese Nanjing, the Russian woman became in May of this year.

On August 15, the New York Times reported that at a press conference during the World Athletics Championship in Moscow, Isinbaeva supported the Russian law on the ban on gay propaganda among minors and criticized the behavior of her Western colleagues: the American runner Nika Simmonds, who took second place at a distance of 800 meters and dedicated a silver The medal to his hey friends, as well as the Swedish athletes, who painted their nails in rainbow colors, emphasizing solidarity with LGBT.

“Everyone can participate, everyone can compete, but, of course, if they announce their sexual preferences openly on the street, this will not approve the majority of our citizens, because we are all internally against this,” Isinbaeva said, adding that he did not oppose the relationship themselves, only against publicity.

“We are Russians. Maybe we are different from Europeans, from people from other countries. We have a law that everyone should respect. This is also my opinion,” she said. “We have women live with guys, guys with women ... We have had such problems so much, and in the future we don’t want them either.”

Commenting on the statement of Isinbaeva, Simmonds emphasized that he was shocked by her words. “This does not fit in my head that such a young, a much traveling, well -educated woman can be so out of time. She said“ normal, ordinary people ”in Russia? Do you know that: many of these people with Russian citizenship are normal, ordinary homosexuals. They also deserve their rights,” Begun said.

Isinbaeva herself later said that she was incorrectly understood due to the fact that English is not her native language.

The homophobic law prohibiting the "promotion of non -traditional sexual relations" among minors, the State Duma almost unanimously adopted in June 2013 immediately in the second and third, final, readings.

The law caused a wide public outcry and provoked massive calls for the boycott of the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi. In particular, the British actor and writer Stephen Fry spoke with the demand to boycott the Olympics. He sent the relevant letters to the Prime Minister of Great Britain David Cameron and the head of the IOC Jacques Rogge.

Great Britain and the United States later officially stated that they were not going to boycott the Olympics in Sochi, but Rogge emphasized that he received from the Russian authorities the official guarantees that neither guests nor participants in the competition will be discriminated against international competitions. German Foreign Minister Gido Westerwell made a statement that the boycott of the Olympics would rather harm Russian gays than will help them.