A Russian pole vaulter who was banned from competing in the Rio Games has been elected to the International Olympic Committee.
Yelena Isinbayeva - who was part of a doping-tainted
track and field team - was voted into an eight-year term as an athletes'
representative.
The women's pole vault world record-holder said her election shows her fellow athletes still trust her despite the scandal.
Isinbayeva was one of 67 Russian track and field athletes who were barred from the Rio Games, although she has never failed a drug test.
Pole vaulting great Yelena Isinbayeva (R) with President Vladimir Putin
The International Association of Athletics Federations'
decision followed a World Anti-Doping Agency investigation into Russian
state-sponsored doping.
On Thursday, Isinbayeva, 34, was one of four candidates who beat 19 others to be elected to the IOC athletes' commission.
"I am very thankful to all athletes who voted for me here in Rio," Isinbayeva said in the Olympic Village.
"Thank
you so much for your trust, for your belief, for your support. For me
it was very, very important. Today we won all together.
Isinbayeva during a national athletics championship in Cheboksary, Russia
"Now I will work very hard for the Olympic movement. Of course I will protect the rights of clean athletes all over the world."
Isinbayeva won gold medals at the 2004 Athens Olympics and 2008 Beijing Games and took bronze four years ago in London.
The
three other athletes elected to the IOC were Britta Heidemann of
Germany, Ryu Seung-min of South Korea and Daniel Gyurta of Hungary.
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