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News19 Oct 2000


Isinbayeva got her medal

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Nikolay Ivanov for the IAAF

20 October 2000 – "After the Olympic Games in Sydney these World Championships were like a school competition for me", said the pole vault world junior record holder Yelena Isinbayeva. "I was sure that I would have no real rivals in Santiago and was ready to jump over 4.60m. But once I was sure of the gold medal, I stopped after clearing 4.20m, first of all because the fight was over, but also because my bottle of kleol (Editor’s note: kleol is used to assure a good grip of the pole) was empty and I did not want to take any risks."

The only moment when the Russian athlete was a little bit nervous was when she only managed to clear her opening height of 3.90m on the third attempt, after the coach Yevgeniy Trofimov had made corrections in her run-up. In fact, the athlete was experimenting, using new poles in competition for the first time. However, after the initial difficulties, Yelena cleared all other heights as easily as usual.

A similar situation had arisen at the start of qualifications in Sydney. There the box had been modified, and Yelena just did not know how to adapt her run-up. On that occasion, her coach was not in the stadium to advise her. She was on her own and no one could help. In fact, the plane bringing Trofimov in from Moscow had a two hours delay. The coach rushed to the stadium, but only arrived 30 minutes after Yelena had failed her last attempt.

"Frankly speaking, I was not too disappointed with such a catastrophic result although going into the Olympics I had a good chance to take one of the medals," says Yelena. "It was not a waste of time and I gained a huge experience. It would have been a much bigger tragedy to be defeated in Santiago . When I was in Sydney I did not want to return home with empty hands but now I am dreaming to return to my parents in Volgograd after two months of traveling."

In Sydney the Head Coach of the Russian team had called her a tourist and now she wants to prove that he was wrong. She will start preparing to win a medal at the next year World Indoor Championships and to be among the leaders in Edmonton. 

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