Darya Klishina is a Russian long jumper who will compete at the 2016 Summer Olympiad under the neutral flag. She will be one of very few track and field competitors from Mother Russia due to the doping scandal. Entering the 2012 Summer Olympiad in London, Klishina held the Russian junior record for long jump, with 7.03 m, the all time second best junior mark.
Oh, and did we mention that social media has branded her a treasonous individual? Never change, Twitter. Just really, never change.
Social media denounced the long jumper as a “traitor” after she thanked her sponsors and coaches for their support and expressed gratitude to the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) for allowing her to compete.
The IAAF reportedly rejected bids from 67 Russian athletes who applied for individual dispensation to bypass the blanket ban imposed on Russia’s athletics team for massive “state-sponsored” doping, but found that the US-based Klishina could demonstrate she was clean.
At an Olympics that truly lacks for individual athlete story lines, Darya Klishina is a truly compelling one. All the media coverage of this Olympics has revolved around what a disaster the planning and infrastructure has been, so it’s nice to discuss something else for a change.
In addition to being a track and field star, Darya Klishina is also a former model, hence the types of photos of that seem to dominate her Google searches.
Gee, I wonder why that is. Hmmm, why would the obvious clickbait type of photos overwhelm the search engines…interesting.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication and Bold Global.
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