old vaulter wrote:I have always respected Isi and her records but she turned me off on her after listening to her interviews....That being said,I really wonder if that is the american in me because the remarks were generated towards Jen...I wondered to myself if it was the other way how would I feel and I really think I would be turned off to whomever would be in the position Yelena is and say those things. The thing that really got me was when she said Jen obvoiusly has no respect for me because of the things she said at her press conference (kick some russian butt) and continued on to say I should be respected because of all I have done and athletes should have respect for one another, but then turn around and in the next question to her...Will she (Jen) ever be a threat to you at any point in your vaulting career she laughs and says no...she will never be able to threaten my position, what she is doing now, I did 4 years ago....So the question is who is being disrespected in these exchanges...Jen said what she said in a light laughing manner but Yelena's comments were said matter of factly right after she says athletes should have more respect...I dont get it
BTW... she may be hot but I wouldnt want to live with it all day!!!
I suppose I’m already considered to be Isi’s chief apologist around here… so what the heck, one more won’t hurt.
I think Jenn wound up being the lightening-rod for a lot of Isi’s pent-up frustrations.
After Yelena left Trofimov at the end of the '05 season, Petrov didn’t want to just become her babysitter, and demanded that she agree to make some changes to her technique if he was going to become her coach. She did, and as we’ve seen, it took quite awhile for her to complete the transition. During each of her five “transitional” seasons (three indoor and two out), she still managed to clear 4.90 or higher at least once, but never succeeded above five meters. So for two and a half years she’s been hearing things like: “I’m really not impressed by anything Isinbaeva has done recently” and “Isinbaeva’s technique has gone to pot” and “Isinbaeva really flushed her career down the toilet.” She always bit her tongue and insisted nothing was wrong, but clearly it bothered her to hear all this.
Then in June of this year, before Isi had opened her outdoor season, Jenn became the second human to jump 4.90 without a Y chromosome. She backed it up with a 4.92 a couple weeks later, and suddenly there were people worldwide saying: “Whoa, so much for Isinbaeva! There’s a new sheriff in town.” Furthermore, at the OT press conference, Jenn made her “kick some Russian butt” comment. Now I agree, having heard it in context, that this wasn’t intended to be disrespectful, and if anything was an explicit acknowledgment of just who the “big dog” in the competition was going to be. But I’m also quite sure that Yelena never heard any of the context, and was simply told by multiple journalists that: “Stuczynski says she’s gonna kick your butt.”
So after listening to all that crap for nearly three years, in spite of continuing to be the best in the business; and after seeing all the praise heaped on Jennski for clearing heights that are routinely poo-poo’d when she clears them; Isi had a whole lot of anger built up inside. And when she blew up 5.03 in Rome, there’s not a doubt in my mind that she was genuinely excited about it. And now that she’s definitively returned to consistent five-plus form, and done exactly what she said she would – win the gold in Beijing with a world record – I believe Lena’s “now she knows her place” remark wasn’t directed solely at Jenn, but was her way of saying: “NEENER! NEENER!! NEENER!!!” to everyone who’s been criticizing her decisions and technique, and questioning her dedication.
Maybe
you wouldn’t have reacted that way in her shoes… but
I probably would have.
