News27 Aug 2009


After Berlin defeat, Isinbayeva vows no more 'overconfidence' - ÅF Golden League

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Yelena Isinbayeva at the pre-meet press conference in Zurich (© Bob Ramsak)

On the eve of her first competition since her shock defeat at the World championships, Yelena Isinbayeva gave a blunt assessment about what precisely went wrong.

“The main mistake was that I was too confident, over confident,” the 27-year-old Russian said. It was an honest appraisal of why the two-time defending World and twice Olympic champion, who has set 26 World records in the Pole Vault, couldn’t manage to clear a height in the final in Berlin 10 days ago.

“I was a little overconfident,” she continued, likening her outing as just another day at the office. “I just thought that I would just take one more gold medal, and then I would easily do another world record.”

“When I went to the track, I didn’t feel like I was at a competition. My body was there, but my mind was absent. I was thinking about other things. Because I thought that that competition was going to be so easy for me. I knew that 4.80, 4.85 maximum would be enough for he victory. And of course, I would then try another world record. So I was so confident with myself that I lost a little bit of my concentration.”

But her shock defeat in Berlin isn’t something she wants to put behind her for good. Certainly not on Friday evening when her chase for the ÅF Golden League Jackpot resumes at Letzigrund Stadium where she’ll again take on Gold medallist Anna Rogowska of Poland and the co-silver medallists, Pole Monika Pyrek and American Chelsea Johnson.

Isinbayeva said that that feeling of defeat will remain with here for a long time, to remind her of the dangers of complacency.

“In one way it’s good because I have to feel these feelings just to improve myself,” she said. “Just to value all my competitions, and to value all the victories and world records. Because before Berlin, all my victories were just nothing special. I was there, it was not a surprise. It was like almost nothing. So I don’t want to forget these feelings.”

What she will be putting behind her are bold predictions of World records. Or, at the least, she’ll keep them to herself.

“Now I’m focusing first on the victory then on the world record. I don’t want to say anything before the competition anymore. I’d rather just say it on the field. Before, I was promising too much. Now I prefer to keep quiet, not to say anything, and keep everything inside. So, I’ll just focus on the victory first, then a personal best.”

Isinbayeva insists there was nothing wrong with her physically. She was in good shape coming into Berlin, and remains in good shape now. She went to her base in Monaco immediately after the competition to recover, unwind, and do some minimal training.

“It just wasn’t a good day for me. Now I’m great, in good form, in good shape, and look forward to having a good competition tomorrow.”

It may sound cliché, but in Isinbayeva’s eyes and mind, tomorrow will literally be a new day.

“So now I have to start everything again from the beginning,” she said. “I have to prove again who I am, and I have to be a little bit more careful. This defeat changed my mind a lot. It changed my priority. Now I value my sport more. I now feel that this defeat was necessary for my future.”

Bob Ramsak for the IAAF
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