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Pole vault queen Isinbayeva to take indefinite break
(AFP) – 59 minutes ago

MOSCOW — Russia's two-time Olympic pole vault champion Yelena Isinbayeva announced on Saturday she is to take an indefinite break from the sport.
The 27-year-old world recordholder and three time outdoor world champion said she had been reflecting on whether to take a break or not.

"I have been thinking over this very carefully the last three weeks and now come to the conclusion that a break from competing is absolutely necessary for me," she said in a statement.

"After more than eight years of very hard training and competing at the highest levels both indoors and outdoors each year I need to step back in order for my body to properly recover.

"It is my full intention to continue training and keep myself fit. At this moment I cannot exactly say when I will return to competitions.

"I have not completely ruled out the entire summer circuit or the European Championships in Barcelona," added the four-time world indoor champion, who has taken the event onto another sphere.

"Nothing has changed with my long term goals which includes the 2011 and 2013 World Championships and the Olympic Gold in London 2012."

She has been inconsistent since she announced she is adding more bottom arm pressure. Probably just gonna focus on that development, let herself chill out, then come back with a bang.

I doubt it is _just_ related to technical stuff. My guess is she has other stuff going on and she needs a break from PV to sort it all out and find her motivation again.

Good blog post on the subject: http://www.jonmulkeen.com/?p=122

The challenge will be for the other ladies to continue to push without Yelana acting like a rabbit for the rest of the field to chase. I fear the progression of the women's heights will stall-out so to speak.

http://www.canada.com/sports/Coach+leng ... story.html

Coach coy on length of timeout for Olympic pole-vaulting star


AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSEAPRIL 13, 2010 9:34 AM


The coach of pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva was coy on how long the two-time Olympic champion would be out of competition after her announcement she was to take an indefinite break from the sport.

The 27-year-old world recordholder and three time outdoor world champion said Saturday that she was taking an "absolutely necessary" break from competing.Coach Vitaliy Petrov confirmed Monday that Isinbayeva had undergone "a blood test, and also checks on an achilles tendon and a knee" in Moscow.

"You have to understand the 'machine' and how she feels within herself" before estimating the possible duration of her break from the sport, he insisted.

Isinbayeva, who bombed at the 2009 worlds after having dominated the sport for five years, insisted on Saturday that she would nevertheless continue to train and keep in shape.

"At this moment I cannot exactly say when I will return to competitions," said the four-time world indoor champion who could only finish fourth at this year's edition in Doha.

"I have not completely ruled out the entire summer circuit or the European Championships in Barcelona.

"Nothing has changed with my long term goals which includes the 2011 and 2013 World Championships and the Olympic Gold in London 2012."

Rabbit is an asinine and insulting remark when making reference to these women. They are pushing ahead. Which rock have you under?

Getvertical_PV wrote:The challenge will be for the other ladies to continue to push without Yelana acting like a rabbit for the rest of the field to chase. I fear the progression of the women's heights will stall-out so to speak.

I feel as though it was simply a statement saying the Isy has been dominating the vault and that everyone else is chasing her. This is because she is on top, not because they don't want to improve themselves. We all know that elite vaulters work hard, but you cannot deny that having someone well above others is indeed a motivating factor.

http://www.european-athletics.org/index ... 1&Itemid=2

Isinabyeva's coach explains her reason behind the break

14.04.2010

Pole Vault superstar Yelena Isinbayeva of Russia
recently announced that she will take an indefinite
break from the sport.
Yelena Isinabyeva's announcement that she was going to take an indefinite break from the sport last weekend made headlines around the world. In an extract of an interview with the Russian newspaper Sovetskiy Sport, her coach Vitaly Petrov explained the current situation.

So what is happening with Yelena?

Everything is normal, from her point of view. She's still preparing and training. It almost impossible for her to miss workouts otherwise she would lose form, that's why we have not excluded the option that, if she is more or less recovered, she will compete at the European Athletics Championships in Barcelona this summer.

Certainly, she'll do two or three meetings at the end of the season. Most likely, these will be some of the final meetings of the IAAF Diamond League in late August, like Zurich. We'll do them and then be in good shape to prepare straightway for the winter season.

Is this a compromise taking into account Yelena's obligations to her sponsors?

Yelena has contracts with the organisers of the Diamond League, with the Chinese company Li Ning (her clothing and footwear sponsor) and with other firms. But, in the end, her health is the most important thing! I agree with Yelena, she needs a rest. Sometimes it might seem that all the records and the victories are just a one long beautiful holiday. In fact, they require a huge amount of nervous tension and, at this point, Yelena has now found that very difficult to cope with.

Would it have been worth taking a break earlier and not suffering the defeats she has done?

Yes, probably, we should have done this after the Olympic Games in Beijing and skipped, for example, 2009 and then start 2010 afresh, and make a big impact in her first meeting.

However, looking back to 2008, it was difficult to make a decision like this. I thought that she finally felt confident with her technique. I thought she would continue to build on it successfully, but it turned the other way around. In the second half of last season and this winter, Yelena was already pretty tired.

But you cannot compare the two defeats she has suffered, Berlin in 2009 and in Doha this year. In Berlin, Lena (Yelena) was physically well prepared, but it was a psychological issue. Just a couple of days later in Zurich, she broke the world record. Unfortunately, this winter (at the World Indoor Championships) in Doha, the situation was quite different. She was not really ready physically because we failed in our preparations for the season.

So why did she go to the World Indoor Championships?

Yelena's first start of the winter season was at the Russian Winter meeting in Moscow and she had a result of 4.85m. Everything was going according to plan, I saw that she was slowly coming into her best form. However, she went straight from Moscow and flew to Hong Kong for a sponsor's photo shoot. It took a week. I was initially against it as it was not only a case of missing training but also enduring some severe climatic changes. In Moscow, it was 20 degrees below zero, in Hong Kong there was terrible heat, 33 degrees, but an agreement had been reached with sponsors in advance.

Yelena returned in pieces. She'd gained three kilograms in weight, and had tendon problems. She went to Donetsk (the European Athletics Indoor Permit Meeting there) on March 6 and was again the star of the show. She again cleared 4.85m, but I saw that she wasn't jumping with her normal technique.

To be honest, I never expected such a development in Doha. I knew she was not ready for a world record, 4.85 - 4.90m was my guess at what she could have jumped. This result would be enough for victory but, probably, Yelena was too tired psychologically.

Of course, you could argue in hindsight, it would haven been better that we missed Doha and properly prepared for the European Athletics Championships. But she is human - not a racing car and you never know where the limit will occur.

polevaulter08nw wrote:I feel as though it was simply a statement saying the Isy has been dominating the vault and that everyone else is chasing her. This is because she is on top, not because they don't want to improve themselves. We all know that elite vaulters work hard, but you cannot deny that having someone well above others is indeed a motivating factor.

Agree... Nobody is being called a rabbit, but Yelena was, and will probably again be, the proverbial rabbit in front of a hunting pack of greyhounds. The one they are all trying to beat.

golfdane wrote:Agree... Nobody is being called a rabbit, but Yelena was, and will probably again be, the proverbial rabbit in front of a hunting pack of greyhounds. The one they are all trying to beat.

Even if you do not take Isi into account, there's a pretty competitive group leading the women this year. Having such a strong group can have the same effect as a "rabbit" if everyone keeps jumping well and pushing each other.

chasing6 wrote:

golfdane wrote:Agree... Nobody is being called a rabbit, but Yelena was, and will probably again be, the proverbial rabbit in front of a hunting pack of greyhounds. The one they are all trying to beat.

Even if you do not take Isi into account, there's a pretty competitive group leading the women this year. Having such a strong group can have the same effect as a "rabbit" if everyone keeps jumping well and pushing each other.

Agree. I was pleased to see Murer and Feofanova doing so well. I think however, that Feofanova is the long shot here, and Murer the upcoming star and safe bet. I predict we will see 4.95m from someone other than Isi this year.