As Russian authorities worked hard to prepare facilities for the first large-scale track and field event in the country since the Moscow Olympics, their efforts appeared largely overshadowed by the intensifying uproar over gay rights in Western media.
As Russia finds itself in the midst of a tight sporting schedule, it will not be long before athletes come back for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi and the stalls of the Luzhniki Stadium will be demolished for reconstruction for the 2018 World Cup.
But if the track and field championships offer any indication, it seems the controversy over gay rights will be in direct competition with actual sports in terms of what will dominate the agenda in the run-up to the events.
