MOSCOW (AP) – Russian athletes including the women’s pole vault world record holder, Yelena Isinbayeva, have visited an air base in Syria that Russia uses to target Islamic State fighters.
Isinbayeva, who won gold at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics but like most Russian track and field athletes was banned from competing in Rio, led a group of Russian athletes to the Hemeimeem base in the government-controlled part of Syria.
Russian television on Monday showed footage of Isinbayeva, dressed in a white T-shirt, leading a morning workout for several dozen soldiers, doing sit-ups with the troops and climbing a rope.
Isinbayeva, who this month retired from competition and won election to the International Olympic Committee as an athletes’ representative, said she was proud to be at the base to boost the troops’ morale.
“Everything here fills me with patriotism and pride,” she said.