By Stan Rayan –At 15, when Yelena Isinbayeva was told that she could become a great pole vaulter like Sergey Bubka if she took up the sport, the young girl was confused. “Bubka? Who’s she?” the Russian had asked the coach. She had not even heard of the sport. Isinbayeva had been a very promising gymnast till then, in a country whose women ruled the sport at the Olympics. She had taken up the sport at five, was a national champion at 10 and had been dreaming of becoming an Olympic queen like Olga Korbut and Nellie Kim. But all that came crashing down one day when she was told that she had grown too tall for gymnastics and that she had to try other options. She was just 15 then. “It was the worst day of my life…I cried for days,” the Russian was to say many years later. Daughter of a plumber from Volgograd, Isinbayeva came to pole vault rather reluctantly. Even Yevgeny Trofimov, who was only coaching boys in pole vault then, took Isinbayeva as a ward with some hesitation when her gymnastics coach brought her to him. “I was passed from hand to hand, without anyone asking for my opinion,” said the Russian beauty. “It was not my choice but I have no regrets.” more
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