Greece's Ekaterini Stefanidi won the Olympic pole vault on Friday Aug 19,2016 and her country's first athletics gold since the 2004 Athens Games, then defended its integrity after barred Russian Yelena Isinbayeva blasted the event as sub-par without her in the field.
Greece Ekaterini Stefanidi cleared 4.85 metres to beat USA's Sandi Morris, who took silver.
Greece Ekaterini Stefanidi said of the two-time Olympic champion, who was excluded from the Rio Games as part of a mass ban on Russian athletes over a doping scandal.
"Things are how they are and we had nothing to do with it."
The competition took place hours after Isinbayeva announced her retirement and said that whoever won would not have earned "a proper gold medal" due to her absence.
Greece Ekaterini Stefanidi, a 26-year-old who lives in the United States, shouted in ecstasy as she cleared the bar at 4.85m and celebrated before she even landed.
"I can't believe what's happened. It's amazing, the crowd were amazing, my parents are here,"
Greece Ekaterini Stefanidi told "I'm glad to make my country proud."
USA's Sandi Morris, 24, also cleared 4.85 but took silver because of more failed attempts earlier in the competition.
New Zealand's Eliza McCartney, 19, cleared 4.80m to tie her national record and take bronze.
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