Yelena Isinbayeva says anti-gay remarks were 'misunderstood'

Russian athlete Yelena Isinbayeva says she may have been "misunderstood" over comments condemning homosexuality and insists she is against discrimination.
On Thursday, the 31-year-old world pole vault champion backed new anti-gay laws brought in by her country.
But in a statement on Friday, she said: "English is not my first language and I think I may have been misunderstood.
"I am opposed to any discrimination against gay people on the grounds of their sexuality."
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Pundits critical of Isinbayeva comments
Russia's president Vladimir Putin signed a law in June making it illegal to give under-18s information about homosexuality.
The move has been widely condemnedand has led to calls for a boycott of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi - where Isinbayeva will be the mayor of the main athletes' village.
In response, earlier this week, United States runner Nick Symmonds dedicated his world 800m silver medal to his gay and lesbian friends, while Swedish high jumper Emma Green-Tregaro painted her fingernails in the colours of the rainbow flag.
Isinbayeva's initial comments attracted widespread criticism but in a statement released via athletics' world governing body the IAAF, she clarified her remarks.
"What I wanted to say was that people should respect the laws of other countries, particularly when they are guests," she stated.
Speaking in English at a news conference on Thursday, Isinbayeva, who is also an ambassador for the Youth Olympics, had said of Green-Tregaro's actions: "It's disrespectful to our country, disrespectful to our citizens because we are Russians.
"Maybe we are different than European people and people from different lands. We have our law which everyone has to respect. When we go to different countries, we try to follow their rules.
"We are not trying to set our rules over there. We are just trying to be respectful.
"We consider ourselves, like normal, standard people, we just live boys with women, girls with boys. It comes from the history.
"I hope the problem won't ruin our Olympic Games in Sochi."