An outstanding sportswoman, the one who has several times broken the world record, Yelena Isinbayeva is the brightest star in pole-vaulting now.

Born to an ordinary Russian family Yelena is the real example of what you can achieve if try hard. Her father is plumber and still works in Volgograd, he enjoys his job and is not going to quit, says Yelena. Her mother worked in a boiler house for 24 years and now she' s taking a chance to spend all her time with the family.

Yelena and her sister never had money to buy smart clothes and cosmetics as teenagers, but they got the meaning of “have to” much earlier than their classmates.

Isinbayeva's parents thought Yelena and her sister could show good results in gymnastics, but Yelena was too tall for this kind of sport, and in 1997 her coach suggested that she should try pole vault. This turned to be the beginning of Isinbayeva's incredible career.

The next year she took part in her first big competition, the 1998 World Junior Championships in Annecy, France, where she jumped 4.00 but didn't win a medal. In 1999 the better result of 4.10 let her get her first gold medal at the World Youth Games.

Step by step Yelena improved her technique and with every new year she jumped higher and higher approaching the world record in pole vault. On July 13, 2003 she set the her first world record after clearing 4.82 m in Gateshead, England.

2004 saw the women's pole vault really start to mature as an event and during a meeting at Donetsk, Ukraine, Yelena set a new indoor worlds best, with a height of 4,83 m only to see her cpompatriot Svetlana Feofanova increase this by a single centimetre the following week. The following month at the World's Indoor in March, Yelena broke this with a gold medal winning jump of 4,86 m beating reigning indoor & outdoor champion Feofanova into bronze with reigning Olympic champion Dragila taking silver.

Her latest world record was set at the Beijing Olympics on August 18, 2008, after she cleared 5.05. Today nobody seems able to beat Yelena's result – she completely dominates pole -vault and is rarely tested by rivals.

She loves being alone on the top; some would think her arrogant, but that's not true – she's confident because there is just nobody to compare with her in the sector.

The 26-year-old has been the world record holder since July 2004 and has now raised the bar on 24 occasions, although until last month she had not broken the outdoor mark since 2005.

In 2007 Yelena Isinbayeva was named Sportswoman of 2007 at the Laureus World Sports Awards. Then she said: “I've been so disappointed for the last two years because I was sure I would win, but this time I've done it.”

Yelena's next big goal was to win the London Olympics 2012, with a new world record for sure, and only then, she said she'd make a leave. However, in London in 2012 Yelena only got a bronze medal which made her decide to stay longer: "This is the call that I still have something to give", she was quoted as saying. 

Resources:
    peoples.ru
    rian.ru
 

Photos
    yelenaisinbaeva.ru
 

Olga Pletneva