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Isinbayeva vows return by 2011
Olympic pole vault champion Yelena Isinbayeva, who decided last month to take an indefinite break from athletics, has not ruled out competing again this year but definitely plans to return by 2011. The 27-time world record holder failed to win a medal at the World Indoor Championships in Doha in March. It was the second consecutive Worlds at which she had performed poorly.

By Reuters | Posted: May 5, 8:35a ET | Updated: May 5, 8:35a ET

BERLIN, May 5 (Reuters) - Olympic pole vault champion Yelena Isinbayeva, who decided last month to take an indefinite break from athletics, has not ruled out competing again this year but definitely plans to return by 2011.

"I have taken a break but of course I will train and start my preparations for 2011 and will continue my normal life," the 27-year-old told Reuters in a telephone interview on Wednesday.

"I don't know if I will compete (this year). I have not decided. First I will have a rest and then if I am hungry for competition I will do some but now I don't promise anything for this year," added the 2004 and 2008 Olympic champion.

The multi-world record holder failed to win a medal at the world indoor championships in Doha in March.

It was the second consecutive world championships at which she had performed poorly. She did not clear a height at last year's outdoor edition in Berlin.

During her time off Isinbayeva will act as an ambassador for the Youth Olympics in Singapore in August, a new event for athletes aged 14 to 18 aimed at tackling obesity and changing the lifestyles of young people.

ISINBAYEVA REIGN

The Russian, who holds the indoor and outdoor world records, is hoping to find inspiration among the teenagers to bounce back.

"It is a beginning and it is like when I competed at the 1998 Youth Games. No one, not even myself, expected anything from me. I did not know the protocol, the competition," she said giggling.

"It was just fun but I came, I saw and won. It was like a game for me. I thought, 'it is so easy and I can do it all my life'."

Isinbayeva did just that, dominating the sport and becoming among the highest-paid track and field athletes of her generation.

"I really hope I will have some fresh emotions and fresh feelings (at the Youth Games)," she said. "I will see the adrenaline and atmosphere there and I will remember about how it all started.

"I have forgotten that or forgotten maybe the most important things. I hope I can get hungry again."

the beginning of the end.

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Isinbayeva needs to find youthful exuberance
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Isinbayeva needs to find youthful exuberance
After consecutive failures at the World Outdoor and Indoor Championships, pole vault great Yelena Isinbayeva was clearly burned out and in need of a break. She has decided to take the summer off to recharge her batteries before her stated return to competition in 2011. She may just find that spark in her role as an ambassador to the Youth Olympics.
By Joe Battaglia, Universal Sports | Posted: May 5, 10:03a ET | Updated: May 5, 1:03p ET
World Indoors: Isinbayeva struggles

Russia's Yelena Isinbayeva failed to win a medal of any color for the second world championships in a row -- this time barely making it out of qualifying.
As she stood in front of the throng of reporters trying to elbow their recorders into position in front of her face in the mixed zone, Yelena Isinbayeva looked weary.
A few minutes earlier, Isinbayeva had missed three times at the once-routine height of 4.75m/15-7 (watch video), and found herself eliminated from the World Indoor Championships in Doha. Eight months earlier, she failed to clear the opening height at the World Outdoor Championships in Berlin, a stunning failure that was followed up a week later by her 27th world record in Zurich.
Now here was this proud athlete, among the most accomplished in the history of the sport, who just days earlier was discussing world-record aspirations, standing with her shoulders slouched, trying to force a smile in the hope that everyone would believe that she was alright.
But she wasn't.
I asked her what she was feeling. And after talking about the immense pressure, both inward and outward, that she competes under, she looked me square in the eyes and said she needed a break.
"I need to find the spark again mentally," she said. "To win at this level you need to be fresh. Maybe I am tired emotionally and need some rest. I don't know when that will be, but I am going to talk to Vitaliy (Petrov, her coach) and we will talk about it. It might mean taking off this summer. I don't want to continue like this. I don't want to lose face."
Exactly four weeks later, Isinbayeva confirmed what she had not-so-subtly hinted at in Doha, that she was walking away from the sport she has dominated for the better part of the last decade (read more).
When she originally suggested that she was going to take a break, I remember thinking that there was no way that she was going to walk away from the lucrative opportunity of being one of the ambassador athletes for the inaugural IAAF Diamond League season this summer.
The thought seemed as nonsensical as Payton Manning telling the Indianapolis Colts he doesn't want to play this fall because throwing touchdown passes is getting old.
But then I remembered the look on her face in the mixed zone.
It was not the same as her teary-eyed, Russia-cap-pulled-low appearance before the media in Berlin. That was more about embarrassment. This was different. You didn't need a detective's perception to see that she was spent physically, mentally, and emotionally.
Make no mistake, Isinbayeva needs this break.
But her absence raises legitimate questions.
Firstly, where does it leave the sport of women's pole vaulting?
As you might expect, competitions figure to be wide-open. Leading the way should be Poland's Anna Rogowska, who won gold at the Worlds in Berlin, and Brazil's Fabiana Murer, who won gold at the World Indoors in Doha. Monika Pyrek of Poland can never be counted out, and Americans Chelsea Johnson, a 2009 Worlds silver medalist, and Jenn Suhr, who did not compete indoors or at Worlds last year due to injury, should also find themselves in contention. The bars won't be as high as if Isinbayeva were competing at her peak, but the battles for victory will be more intriguing.
The remaining questions, of course, surround Isinbayeva herself.
Like, will she be able to return to her once dominant form?
Rogowska, for one, believes she will.
"Yelena has been on the top for several great years and achieved everything in our discipline, because of hard training, great stress and many sacrifices," she told European Athletics. "In my opinion, if she needs to mentally recharge her batteries she should focus on herself, concentrate on her goals, sleep with her thoughts and look at her career from some distance. I'm sure she'll be back in good shape."
The obvious question becomes when will she return?
Only Isinbayeva knows that for sure.
Although she left open the possibility of a return this summer, In an interview with Reuters she only committed to continuing her training with an eye toward returning for the 2011 season, one that is doubly important with the World Championships in Daegu, South Korea in August and the 2012 London Olympics looming large thereafter.
In the interim, she said she will go about her "normal life," which will include serving as an ambassador alongside swimmer Michael Phelps for the first Youth Olympics in Singapore in August, as event for athletes aged 14 to 18 aimed at tackling obesity and promoting healthy lifestyles (read more).
In the process, she remains hopeful of rediscovering her passion in that Olympic fountain of youth.
"I really hope I will have some fresh emotions and fresh feelings (at the Youth Games)," she told Reuters. "I will see the adrenaline and atmosphere there and I will remember about how it all started. I have forgotten that or forgotten maybe the most important things.
"I hope I can get hungry again."

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Isinbayeva rules out 2010 comeback
Olympic pole vault champion and world record holder Yelena Isinbayeva will not compete this season but hopes to come back stronger next year. She has begun light training but would need two months to regain competitive form.
By Reuters | Posted: Jul 9, 7:03a ET | Updated: Jul 9, 7:03a ET
• Isinbayeva: WR progression »
Stories
• Isinbayeva vows return by 2011 »
• Isinbayeva stepping away indefinitely »
• Another Worlds of failure »
MOSCOW, July 9 (Reuters) - Olympic pole vault champion and world record holder Yelena Isinbayeva will not compete this season but hopes to come back stronger next year, her coach said on Friday.
"Yelena started light training at the end of June," Vitaly Petrov was quoted as saying by the Russian media.
"We're not talking about getting her ready for big competitions but just trying to regain her fitness and technique," he said.
"After three-and-a-half months of rest she'll need two months to get back her competitive form so we decided not to rush things, not to take any risks."
Russian Isinbayeva, 27, decided to take an indefinite break from the sport after failing to win a medal at the world indoor championships in Doha in March -- her second consecutive defeat in a major championship. She did not clear a height at last year's world outdoor championships in Berlin.
"We knew she wouldn't be ready (to compete) at the European championships, which start at the end of this month in Barcelona," Petrov told the All Sport news agency.
"More than that, she will not compete this outdoor season at all and her first competition after the break will be the (annual) indoor meet in Moscow next February."
Petrov, who also coached the great Ukrainian pole vaulter Sergei Bubka, said he was hoping the Russian would come back motivated and refreshed.
"The following three years are going to be very important for her," he said. "First, the 2011 world championships, then the London Olympics the following year and finally the 2013 world championships in Moscow."
Isinbayeva has said on several occasions that she planned to finish her athletics career on home soil following the 2013 worlds.

everybody is pushing the two poor performances at the championships. why can't you do better they ask, its because of how negatively a lot of people are thinking of isenbayeva has her second guessing herself. coming from a vaulters perspective, you can not think negatively or second guess yourself and still jump high, that kind of thinking has huge consequences on your confidence. I'm sure isenbayeva is tired of everybody jumping down her throat every time she does bad, every body does bad once in awhile. no heights are just part of the sport, EVERYBODY who pole vaults, no heights, its just another hurdle to becoming sucsesful. think of the POSITIVE for isinbayeva.

AllaboutPV1 wrote:everybody is pushing the two poor performances at the championships. why can't you do better they ask, its because of how negatively a lot of people are thinking of isenbayeva has her second guessing herself. coming from a vaulters perspective, you can not think negatively or second guess yourself and still jump high, that kind of thinking has huge consequences on your confidence. I'm sure isenbayeva is tired of everybody jumping down her throat every time she does bad, every body does bad once in awhile. no heights are just part of the sport, EVERYBODY who pole vaults, no heights, its just another hurdle to becoming sucsesful. think of the POSITIVE for isinbayeva.

That's the price of fame and being number one. If the root of her problems is from fans/the media doubting her (and I doubt it is), then that is a problem she needs to fix. But I don't think that is what's wrong, I think it's just a consequence.