Posted: September 30, 2004

Athletics: Bubka To Isinbayeva: "You Saved My Image."

By Bob Ramsak, Track Profile

(c) 2004 Track Profile all rights reserved TrackProfile.com

Yelena Isinbayevaba owes at least a bit of thanks to vault legend Sergey Bubka for the large crowd that stayed on in Olympic Stadium last month to witness her world record leap of 4.91 (16-1 ¼), her seventh of eight this year, long after events on the track concluded.

"I said to many of my friends and colleagues that this is one of the most exciting competitions ever in the women's pole vault," Bubka recalled, as the two recounted the women's pole vault competition during a television shoot on the roof of Monte Carlo's Grand Hotel on the eve of the World Athletics Final.

But after she essentially clinched the competition with her first attempt leap of 4.85 (15-11), Bubka said his friends were preparing to leave.

"I tried to stop them and said, 'Why are you leaving?' And they said, 'Because the competition is over.'

Sensing something monumental in the works, Bubka, who has scaled the event's six-meter barrier a staggering 42 times, implored them to stay.

"I said, 'No, soon you will see a world record.' Of course, that was my personal interpretation of what would happen next. And they said, 'No, no, no one will jump a world record without payment, without money.' And I said to them, 'Come on, not everything is about money."

His insistence paid off, and he wasn't alone in the tribune when Isinbayeva, who was named the IAAF's Athlete of the year, asked that the bar be raised to 4.91 (16-1 ¼).

"They decided to stay and you moved the bar to a new world record. And you did it on the first attempt, and I felt so proud," he said. Before breaking into a wide, toothy smile, Bubka added, "And thank you very much. You saved my image."