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http://www.etaiwannews.com/Sports/2005/ ... 703434.htm

After pole vault record, Isinbayeva aims for 5-meter barrier


2005-07-07 / Associated Press /


Olympic champion Yelena Isinbayeva of Russia clears the bar in the pole vault event to set a new world record at the IAAF Super Grand Prix athletics meeting Athletissima in Lausanne, Switzerland, Tuesday./ reuters
After setting her 14th pole vault world record, Yelena Isinbayeva needs a new challenge - becoming the first woman to clear five meters.

Though initially worried about a headwind and chilly temperatures, the 22-year-old Russian had little difficulty breaking her own world record in Tuesday's competition at the Athletissima Grand Prix meet, vaulting 4.93 meters.

Isinbayeva, who broke the indoor world record in each of her four appearances this past winter, eclipsed the outdoor world record on her first attempt at that height. She quickly leapt back onto her feet and began jumping up and down on the mat, her long ponytail flying, as the frenzied crowd drowned out the announcer with their cheers.

"I thought that I would break the world record today. I was in good form," said the Olympic champion, who had set the previous world record of 4.92 in Brussels in September 2004. "I have five more meets this year and I will try and beat the record every time."

"I will try to jump five meters this year," she added.

Isinbayeva said the first woman to break the five-meter mark would be considered the female Sergei Bubka.

"The woman who jumps this height first will be a legend," she said. "Five meters for women is the same as six meters for men."

Bubka, now 41 year old, won the pole vault gold medal at the 1988 Seoul Olympics and was a six-time world champion. He set 35 world records.

Bubka soared over six meters 43 times in his career, breaking his own world record regularly as he became one of athletics' biggest names.

"I think it is possible to jump 5.10 or 5.15 but with my potential, I don't know," said Isinbayeva, the world's No. 1 ranked woman.

World and Olympic gold medallist Stacy Dragila of the United States was runner-up with a vault of 4.60.

Modest, isn't she? Anyways, if she didn't seriously go for 5m this year, it would be tempting fate. Of course, I suppose I am stating the obvious.

Let's just hope she doesn't get injured.

http://www.sportinglife.com/others/news ... ayeva.html

ISINBAYEVA TARGETS HIGH FIVE
Yelena Isinbayeva insists she has not finished rewriting the women's pole vault record and has not ruled out breaching the five metres barrier at the World Championships.

Isinbayeva is adamant her current best of 4.93metres is well below what she believes her advanced technique is capable of - and that her target is well in excess of the landmark five metres.

The Russian set the new mark at Lausanne in July which now means she has set seven outdoor and seven indoor world records.

The 23-year-old's magnificent 2004 season saw her set eight world records indoors and outdoors and win both the world indoor and Olympic titles.

And this year she has embarked on an indoor record-smashing crusade, four-times raising her own world mark to 4.90m.

Having delayed her start to the summer season until the beginning of July, she is again hell-bent on rewriting the outdoor record of an event only added to the World Championships schedule six years ago.

Her number one aim in Helsinki is to replace arch-rival and compatriot Svetlana Feofanova as gold medallist, while hoping to thrill the crowd with another world record-breaking performance of the kind which graced last summer's Olympic Games.

Isinbayeva retired from the gymnasium seven years ago, a year before Stacy Dragila won the first of her two successive World Championships gold medals, to embark on a career she knew very little about.

Dragila was the pioneer of the event and the European nations were fighting tooth-and-nail to catch up with the American vaulter as well as some very good Australian performers.

Isinbayeva admitted she did not even know who Sergey Bubka was, although she is now a very close friend of the men's world record holder whose mark has been unchallenged for 12 years.

"No, who is she?" queried the naive Isinbayeva, when her coach Yevgeny Trofimov said she must follow the titanic training and competitive attitude of the all-time great of the event, if she was to realise her dreams.

The then teenager candidly recalled: "I didn't know anything about the pole vault, about Bubka, or even how to do it."

Now she is following in Bubka's footsteps and matching his world-record-breaking performances - although she insists she does not try to do it one centimetre at a time to bolster her bank balance.

"That's not true," said Isinbayeva. "I try to give the spectators value for money and you must believe me when I say how mentally tiring it is trying to break the record every time."

The sight of Isinbayeva roaring down the runway, more than likely on her way to taking the world record even higher, has made the event the very popular at international track meetings.

Whereas in the past, women's pole-vaulting was shunned, her extrovert manner makes her one of the first stars promoters want to pencil in.

The 1999 world youth champion, who graduated to becoming the world junior record holder three years later, is itching to close in on the five-metre mark before this season ends.

"I regularly jump higher when training and have done 5.05 metres a few times," revealed Isinbayeva, although she acknowledged it is harder under the limelight of live competition.

"When I jumped it, I thought, okay, it's not as high as I thought. I want to be the first to jump it in competition.

"Now I feel I can do it outdoors this summer. It's my dream to be the first to jump five metres. It's coming soon.

"But I must not rest on my laurels."

However, Isinbayeva knows Feofanova and Dragila, plus a a couple of useful Poles Anna Rogowska and Monika Pyrek, also have ambitions in that direction.

"I never can rest," she added. "They motivate me to never stop, to never give up.

I honeslty hope she never gets 5 Meters. With her abilty she could get it now, but she's to worried about her wallet. She needs to step up and help vualting but not clearing another world record every othger jump, but to DEMOLISH it, set a high mark -5 Meters- to give the event a reason to be publicized.

CHC04Vault wrote:I honeslty hope she never gets 5 Meters. With her abilty she could get it now, but she's to worried about her wallet. She needs to step up and help vualting but not clearing another world record every othger jump, but to DEMOLISH it, set a high mark -5 Meters- to give the event a reason to be publicized.

whats wrong with worrying about money, she is a professional athlete.

plus, with this slow progression it is possible people give her more credit than she deserves. consider that we think that she could just clear 5m at will. this may not be the case either. might as well set records when she can and enjoy it. bubka did something similar and right now every one thinks he could have gone higher. that myth is part of his legacy. now, isinbayeva is far from being the female bubka equivalent, but come on, she is 23 years old--if she doesnt get 5 this year she will likely have more chances.