Russian athlete Darya Klishina hopes she will not be alone at Rio 2016
Last Updated: 12/07/16 3:36pm
Darya Klishina, the only Russian athlete cleared to compete at this summer's Olympic Games in Rio, insists she is not a traitor.
On Sunday, the 25-year-old long jumper was given the go-ahead by the IAAF to compete in Brazil as a neutral athlete.
This follows a successful appeal against a blanket ban on her country's track and field athletes for systematic doping in recent years.
Klishina, whose best performance at a senior global event was fourth at the World Indoor Championships in 2012, has since become the target of criticism by unhappy Russians.
A number of Russian fans have accused Klishina of being a traitor, for not showing solidarity with other athletes from their country.
But she said: "I would like to point out that I didn't start training in the USA with an American coach a month before this situation turned out the way it did. I have been there for three years.
I am still really waiting and hoping that I will not be going to Rio alone.
Darya Klishina
"Therefore, I think it is wrong to criticise me and call me a Russian traitor.
"I am still really waiting and hoping that I will not be going to Rio alone. I want to believe that the Court of Arbitration for Sport, following its decision on July 19, will give us a positive decision.
"Now we all need support. Let's unite and we will believe right to the end that we will compete in Rio as a team."
The IAAF banned Russia's track and field athletes last year, after a World Anti-Doping Agency report uncovered systematic state-sponsored doping within the country.
The ban was extended last month, which ultimately ruled the country's athletes out of next month's Olympics, subject to an appeal by the All-Russia Athletic Federation to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
