Isinbayeva to face three opponents in bid to become Russian athletics chief

[November 10, 2016]  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Two-time Olympic pole vault champion Yelena Isinbayeva is among four candidates to register for an election to choose a new president of the All-Russian Athletics Federation (ARAF), the organization said on its official website.

Isinbayeva, 34, was among 67 Russian athletes ruled out of this year's Olympics in Rio de Janeiro by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) after a World Anti-Doping Agency report uncovered systematic state-sponsored doping in Russia.

Russian athletes were banned in November 2015 from competing in international competitions and the new ARAF chief's main task will be to try to lift the suspension. Isinbayeva has said she will never forgive the IAAF for imposing the ban.

Russian media say Isinbayeva, who won gold at the Athens and Beijing Games, is the frontrunner for the job.

The other candidates are current president Dmitri Shlyakhtin, who has headed ARAF since January, its general secretary Mikhail Butov and the 2008 Olympics high jump champion Andrei Silnov, the website said.

Russian track-and-field athlete Yelena Isinbayeva talks on her mobile phone as she walks at Red Square in Moscow, Russia July 27, 2016. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov

This list is now final as the deadline for registering was November 9. The election will take place in Moscow on Dec. 9.

(Reporting By Dmitriy Rogovitskiy; Editing by Gareth Jones)

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