“We were kind of admitted, but still it was a waste of time” – Tatyana Lebedeva

Olympic long jump champion Tatiana Lebedeva believes that the restoration of the rights of the All-Russian Athletics Federation (VFLA) in the conditions of non-admission of Russian athletes to international departures is “child’s play”.

ARAF has been banned since 2015 after a series of doping scandals. Russian athletes could participate in international competitions in a neutral status. To obtain it, it was necessary to obtain the approval of the Council of the world Association of athletics (World Athletics).

On March 24, World Athletics decided to reinstate the ARAF. However, Russian athletes still cannot participate in international competitions due to the situation in Ukraine.

– How do you assess the prospects of our athletes returning to international competitions?

“On the one hand, we seem to have been fired. But it was a waste of time, we still can’t play. Yes, international workers can come to us, but we cannot, even in neutral status.

It’s good that the Cubans came to us, I saw pictures on social networks, everyone took pictures with them. Turks and Belarusians have arrived. The same Ekaterina Koneva was a little brightened by the competition with Violetta Skvortsova in the triple jump. She’s a fiery sportswoman, she needs an irritant. In Sochi they zarubilsya, – the correspondent of “” reports Lebedeva’s words.

Athletics Week takes place in Moscow from June 5-10. As part of it, show races with the participation of sports and media stars, a day of high jumps, a day of long and triple jumps, a day of sprints and the memorial of the Znamensky brothers are planned.