The rainbow colours two Swedish athletes painted their fingernails in support of gays and lesbians sent a clear message and brought a swift rebuke from a Russian star, perhaps even a glimpse of whats to come at the Sochi Olympics. Speaking at the world championships, pole vault gold medallist Yelena Isinbayeva condemned homosexuality and criticized the Swedes for their gesture critical of Russias new anti-gay legislation. The law, which bans gay "propaganda," has drawn sharp criticism and led some Western activists to call for a boycott of the Winter Olympics in the Russian resort. Isinbayeva won her third world title Tuesday before a boisterous home crowd, and drew even louder cheers Thursday when she received her gold medal. But before accepting it, the woman who will serve as "mayor" of one of the Sochi Olympic villages spoke in favour of the anti-gay stance. "If we allow to promote and do all this stuff on the street, we are very afraid about our nation because we consider ourselves like normal, standard people," Isinbayeva, a two-time Olympic champion, said in English. "We just live with boys with woman, woman with boys. "Everything must be fine. It comes from history. We never had any problems, these problems in Russia, and we dont want to have any in the future." Swedish high jumper Emma Green Tregaro, who won a bronze medal at the 2005 worlds, and sprinter Mao Hjelmer sported rainbow colours on their fingernails for events at Luzhniki Stadium, which also hosted the 1980 Moscow Olympics. "The first thing that happened when I came to Moscow and pulled my curtains aside was that I saw the rainbow and that felt a little ironic," Green Tregaro said in a video posted on the website of the Swedish newspaper Expressen. "Then I had a suggestion from a friend on Instagram that maybe I could paint my nails in the colours of the rainbow and that felt like a simple, small thing that maybe could trigger some thoughts." Isinbayeva said it was wrong for the Swedes to make such a statement while competing in Russia. "Its unrespectful to our country. Its unrespectful to our citizens because we are Russians. Maybe we are different from European people and other people from different lands," Isinbayeva told reporters. "We have our home and everyone has to respect (it). When we arrive to different countries, we try to follow their rules." Russias new law does not explicitly ban participation in gay pride parades or promotion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality online, but anyone wearing a rainbow flag on the street or writing about gay relationships on Facebook, for instance, could be accused of propagandizing. The IOC and FIFA have asked the Russian government for more clarification. It remains unclear if the new law will be enforced during the Sochi Olympics or World Cup. The IAAF, the sports governing body, said the opinions of all athletes should be respected. "The IAAF constitution underlines our commitment to principle of nondiscrimination in terms of religious, political or sexual orientation," IAAF spokesman Nick Davies told The Associated Press. "Allied to this is our belief in free expression as a basic human right, which means we must respect the opinions of both Green Tregaro and Isinbayeva." The International Olympic Committee declined to comment. "You will understand that at this stage we cannot comment on reported opinions/comments," IOC spokeswoman Emmanuelle Moreau said. American middle-distance runner Nick Symmonds was shocked by Isinbayevas comments. Symmonds won a silver medal in the 800 metres at about the same time that Isinbayeva won her pole vault title. "Oh, my god. I cant believe she said that. Its bad," Symmonds told the AP. "For Yelena to come out and say we are normal, standard Russian citizens -- Im paraphrasing here -- and we dont stand for that. "I want to say to Yelena, You understand a very large portion of your citizens here are gay and lesbian people. They are standard people, too. They were created this way. For you to tell them that theyre not normal and standard, thats what were taking an issue with. Thats why we have to continue to demonstrate and to speak out against the ignorance that shes showing." Symmonds said he dedicated his silver medal to his gay and lesbian friends, as he said he would in a blog entry for "Runners World" before the championships began. "While I was here, I wanted to focus on athletics. I wanted to win a medal. That was my job," Symmonds said. "Now that Im done doing that job, if theres something I can do, if this gives me a platform to voice my opinion and speak out about the atrocities that Ive seen here, thats what Id like to do." Isinbayeva has set 28 world records and won seven major titles, including gold medals at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics, but she said this week that she plans to take a break from the sport to have a baby. She was part of the team that helped Russia win the right to host the 2018 World Cup. Asked by Russian TV if she had any intentions of becoming a politician, Isinbayeva said: "I have blabbed so much today and, as usual, everything was turned upside down." Fans cheered when Isinbayeva entered the stadium to receive her gold medal and roared their approval when she stood on the top step of the podium, thrusting her arms in the air and jumping with glee. IAAF treasurer Valentin Balakhnichev of Russia put the gold medal around her neck and kissed her cheeks, and when the Russian anthem began, Isinbayeva started singing but soon broke down, burying her face in her hands. She quickly regained her composure and kissed her medal while the anthem played on. Before posing with American silver medallist Jenn Suhr and Cuban bronze medallist Yarisley Silva, Isinbayeva dried her eyes and checked her fingertips for smeared makeup. She was all smiles in the ensuing photos, and then addressed the adoring crowd, speaking into a microphone as her image flashed on giant screens.
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Custom Buffalo Sabres Jerseys . The game marks the rare occasion when two homegrown running backs, Jon Cornish of the Calgary Stampeders and Andrew Harris of the B.C. Lions, will start in the West Divisions battle for a Grey Cup berth.The Chicago Blackhawks werent ready to give up on their dreams of winning consecutive Stanley Cup titles the last time out. The defending champions hope to stay alive for a second straight time tonight when they visit the Los Angeles Kings for Game 6 of the Western Conference Final. The Blackhawks are attempting to return to the Cup Finals after falling behind three games to one in this postseason battle against Los Angeles. The Kings, who lost in five games to Chicago in last springs conference finals, couldnt close out the Hawks in their first attempt on Wednesday, dropping a 5-4 double-overtime decision in the Windy City. Chicago, which is trying to become the first team to win consecutive titles since Detroit in 1997 and 98, improved to 8-1 as the host in these playoffs with the Game 5 triumph, but it will have to win its first road game of the series to keep on playing. The Kings won Game 3 at the Staples Center by a 4-3 score and pushed their series lead to 3-1 with a 5-2 decision Monday night in the City of Angels. All told, Los Angeles is 5-3 as the host this postseason and is 19-7 in home playoff games since the start of the 2012 playoffs, when the Kings won their only Stanley Cup title. If the Blackhawks win Friday the clubs will meet Sunday evening in Chicago for a decisive Game 7. Michal Handzus, a former L.A. King, provided the OT heroics for Chicago on Wednesday, scoring at 2:04 of the second overtime to send the series back to the Staples Center. Brandon Saad held the puck along the right wing below the circles and dished ahead to Handzus, who controlled the disc for a second before lifting a backhander under the crossbar to end the contest. "Two guys went on him and I got open,"Handzus said of his linemate Saad. "I was surprised I got open like that but he waited and waited and gave me a great pass." For Handzus, it was his first career postseason overtime score, and just his second playoff game-winner after recording the only goal in a 1-0 Flyers victory against Ottawa in the 2003 second round. Saad ended up with a goal and two assists for the Blackhawks, who wasted a pair of early two-goal leads and fell behind by a goal before rallying to extend the series. "We dont want the season to end now. Were having too much fun playing," Saad admitted. Brent Seabrook, Johnny Oduya and Ben Smith also scored, while Patrick Kane notched a career playoff-high four helpers for Chicago. Kane became the first Blackhawk to assist on four goals in one playoff game since Steve Larmer did so on April 30, 1990 in a Norris Division final-clinching 8-2 rout of the St. Louis Blues . Kane hasnt scored a goal since getting the OT winner and series clincher in Game 6 of Chicagos second-round series against Minnesota, but the reigning Conn Smythe winner has posted five assists over the last two games..dddddddddddd Corey Crawford looked shaky at times, but emerged with the win thanks to 40 saves. On Thursdays off day, Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews talked about keeping the pressure on Los Angeles from the start of tonights battle. "Were going to work on getting our first win on the road against this team," said Toews. "We want to stay with the mentality, that were putting all the pressure on them. Its going to be tough for them to close it out and win that fourth game against us. We showed how resilient of a group we are last night. Were going to do it again." Dustin Brown, Marian Gaborik, Jarret Stoll and Tanner Pearson lit the lamp for L.A. Pearsons tally extended his point streak to six games, matching the Kings postseason record for a rookie along with Warren Rychel (1993) and Daryl Evans (1982). L.A. has the comfort of home ice on Friday to try and reach the Stanley Cup Finals for the second time in the last three seasons, but the club knows the fourth win of a series can be extremely hard to come by. "If anyone thinks that its easy ... its not easy," Kings forward Justin Williams said of closing out an opponent in the third round. "Attaining your ultimate goal is never easy and were going to do our best to get it done." Jonathan Quick took the loss despite stopping 40 pucks. Kane had a hand in all three Blackhawk scores in the opening 20 minutes on Wednesday before notching the secondary assist on Handzus winner. However, after going up by scores of 2-0 and 3-1 in the opening period, the Blackhawks found themselves down 4-3 heading into the final stanza of regulation, but Smith scored early in the third to even things. Saad fired a low shot from the left wing that was kicked aside by Quick, but Smith beat his checker and potted the rebound for a 4-4 game just 77 seconds into the third period. The Blackhawks had a prime chance to win in regulation when Stoll committed a tripping infraction with 3:11 on the clock. Quick made two acrobatic stops, one from Kane and the rebound on Bryan Bickell early in the advantage and added two more before its completion. Acting on adrenaline and instinct, the first overtime featured a dozen quality chances split between the clubs. Los Angeles claimed a 10-8 shot edge in a briskly-paced fourth period. "Overtime, Ive seen a lot of games, been involved in a lot of those," said Chicago head coach Joel Quenneville. "That might have been the greatest overtime Ive seen." The Blackhawks have come back from down 3-1 to win a series only once in their history, but it was last spring against Detroit, which won three of the first four games against Chicago in the Western Conference semifinals before losing the final three tilts. The Blackhawks also needed to win Game 7 in overtime to down the Red Wings. ' ' '
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