Doing what she does best: Yelena Isinbayeva winning the women's pole vault (© Getty Images)
Olympic, World and European Pole Vault champion and World record holder Yelena Isinbayeva of Russia is the first great champion to confirm they will compete at the 2008 edition of the Golden Gala which this year takes place on 11 July 2008, and will be the third stop of the six meeting ÅF Golden League series.
At last week’s inauguration of the IAAF World Pole Vault Centre in Formia, Italy, Isinbayeva confirmed:
“This year is very important for me and I hope it will be an unforgattable year. I will make my debut at the ÅF Golden League meeting in Rome on 11 July. I will not compete too much this summer. I want to peak my form for Beijing.”
The Golden Gala Organising Committee is very proud to welcome the world's strongest women's pole vaulter again. Last year, the Russian athlete, coached by Vitaly Petrov, dominated the competition, setting a new meeting record with a vault of 4.90m and then made attempts at a new World record of 5.02m.
That victory in Rome was an important step on the road to the $1 Million Golden League Jackpot that Isinbayeva shared with USA 400m runner Sanya Richards at the conclusion of the series in 2007.
While the women's Pole Vault is not a Jackpot event in 2008, the Rome competition will again surely serve as a key test in view of the Olympic competition in China the following month. In any case this ÅF Golden League meeting will always hold a particular significance for the Russian star as it is almost a ‘home meet’ for the World record holder considering that Formia in Italy is her base for much of the year.
The men's 3000m Steeplechase will be back on Rome's Olympic Stadium track as part of the supporting programme to the main ÅF Golden League events. All the classical middle distance events will be also featured in the programme on 11 July: the men's events include the 800m, the 1500m and the 5000m, while the women's events will be the 800m and the 5000m.
The sprint events are expected to be top-level competitions as has always been the case in Rome, and besides the 100m and the 400m races, the women's 200m has been added to the programme.
For those loving the hurdling events, the sprint and one lap hurdles for both men and women will all be contested, while in the infield Italian hero Andrew Howe will be the star of the Long Jump runway and pit, and there will also be a women's High Jump and the men's Javelin Throw - all three are Jackpot events - to keep spectators entertained in Rome.
Chris Turner for the IAAF
Click here for the full Rome programme and provisional timetable
