Born in Luhansk in south-eastern Ukraine, Sergey Bubka excelled at sprinting and long jump as a young boy. He took up the pole vault when he was nine years old and explained: “I had never even heard of the pole vault but an older neighbour of ours had started vaulting and enjoyed it. When the coach said I couldn’t join in training until I was 12, my neighbour kept on insisting until I was given an opportunity. I sprinted 30 metres and did 15 pull ups even even though I really knew nothing about the sport. It sort of happened by accident but I was comfortable, and once I had started I never considered giving up.” When his coach, Vitaly Petrov, was transferred to Donetsk six years later, Bubka, along with his older brother who was also a vaulter, followed. Virtually unknown when he competed at the World Athletics Championships in Helsinki in 1983, he won the event with a vault of 5.70 metres which announced him as a world star. Bubka first set the outdoor world record in Bratislava in May 1984 and broke it twice more over the next few weeks. Once considered unattainable, he cleared 6.00 metres for the first time in July 1985 in Paris. Dominating the sport for more than a decade, he broke the world record 35 times and still holds the outdoor world record of 6.14 (1994) metres. That’s taller than most giraffes, the tallest animal in the world. The Olympic Games provided mixed fortunes for Bubka. He was prevented from competing in Los Angeles in 1984 due to the Soviet boycott – a decision which still hurts him today. In Seoul in 1988, he won gold but a loss of form and injury hindered his hopes of winning more Olympic medals. He made up for it in the IAAF World Athletics Championships, winning the pole vault event in six consecutive editions from 1983 to 1997. Gripping the pole higher than most vaulters, Bubka also used speed and strength to create the recoil force that allowed him to be so successful. “You have to be physically and psychologically very strong. On the ground you have to be a sprinter, then a jumper and gymnast – your brain has to work all the time,” he explained. He officially retired in 2001 with a ceremony at his Pole Vault Stars meeting back in Donetsk. more
