Woman Crush Wednesday: Darya Klishina

Darya Klishina, criticized by many, lauded by others as an icon of healthy sports, is one of Rio 2016’s most controversial characters. And the Olympic games haven’t even started yet! What’s the deal, then? Why is everyone talking about this 25-year-old athlete from Russia? Everything started when Russia was expelled from the Olympic games for doping its athletes, something which clearly made big news. The 68 members of the Russian olympic team appealed against the decision: all of these appeals were rejected… Except for one. Yes, you guessed it: Darya Klishina’s appeal was the only successful one. She was subsequently readmitted to the games, since she was judged to be “clean.” This long jump champion will compete on her own, flying a neutral flag. Her fellow Russians were, unfortunately, not happy with her being the only athlete to be allowed to participate in the Olympics, and accused her of betraying the motherland, despite a few more Russian athletes later being allowed to compete again, too. We are totally on Darya’s side, since all she wants to do is compete and maybe win, rewarding years of training and sacrifice… And this is why she is our WCW!