Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva has said that athletes must respect the country's controversial anti-gay laws.
The 31-year-old also criticised Swedish high jumper Emma Green-Tregaro for making a statement by painting her nails in rainbow colours.
Isinbayeva, who won gold at the World Championships in Moscow earlier this week, said at a press conference: "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."
Isinbayeva holds the world record for the women's pole vault, clearing a height of 5.06m in Zurich in 2009.
Sian Cowper
