Isi updates ...

[BruceFlorman]

Here's an interview from this morning on AllSport.ru:
http://www.allsport.ru/index.php?id=12858

13:29 09.03.2008 – Light Athletics – World Indoor Championships-2008
Yelena Isinbaeva: Happy about victory, but not content with the result
On Saturday, March 8th, Russia’s Yelena Isinbaeva defended her indoor world championship title, winning in Valencia with a modest for her result of 4.75 m. Yelena Isinbaeva shared her impressions of the jumps, her emotions and her plans with Natalie Maryanchik, editor from the Agency of Sport Information "All Sport".

- Lena, dual salutations to you – for your victory and for the 8th of March! [March 8th = International Women’s Day – BF]
- Thanks! I’m happy about the victory, of course. I expected to defend my title of indoor world champion, and I succeeded. But I’m not content with this result. On form, given my current state, I thought I would jump higher than 4.75.

- What was the problem?
- There was some confusion with the standards and my poles. I carried out the first attempt at 4.65 m well. But at 4.85 first I came down on top of the bar, then on the second attempt, with the same pole, I just flew into it. On the third attempt I used a more rigid pole, but nevertheless a "make" didn’t come out. Maybe I still have something to sort out in my takeoff. The vault is influenced by many factors.

- Why did you pass at 4.80 and immediately go to 4.85? Indeed, the American, Jennifer Stuczynski, could have taken 4.80 and placed you in an unpleasant position.
- My trainer Vitaly Afanasevich Petrov and I originally planned that we would jump 4.65 – 4.75 – 4.85 m. Then, if everything had worked out, you understand what the next height would be (laughing). So I went according to my graph, without consideration of my competitors.

- And were you able to somehow celebrate the March 8th holiday?
- Before the competition it was out of the question. But afterwards we took a small party to a restaurant and celebrated everything together – the victory and Women’s day. I was a little dissatisfied with myself, but my friends supported me. They succeeded in convincing me that in the end, the main thing was winning, and now I already understand that’s really so.

- How was the situation in Valencia for you – the stadium, spectators, and city?
- Here it’s excellent! Warm weather, a beautiful, modern, somehow youthful city. There are many uncommon buildings in an avant-garde style. The spectators have a southern passion; active. When I jumped, they shouted from the stands, and squealed... It was very pleasant, although the attention was sometimes excessive. Before the start I tried not to give autographs or photographs, but not at all because I begrudge them. It’s just that you can’t give only one, and here all around are such crowds, I would have had no time left for training. After winning I stood with pleasure for photographs and gave autographs.

- What are your plans now? Your winter season is done?
- Yes, I won’t have any more this winter. Now I’ll drop in for a few days in Monaco, exchange suitcases, and go home to rest for a week in Volgograd. The traveling wears you out, and I just have time to decide what things to pack and what to take out (laughing). Now I already can’t wait to go home.

- The season came out ambiguously for you – there was victory at the world championships, and a world record, but also your first winter defeat in four years – from Svetlana Feofanova in Bydgoszcz.
- Honestly, though seeing my name on the second line of the standings was a bit unusual for me, I hadn’t kept track of the victories, and only learned from the journalists what had happened – that I hadn’t lost in four years. I figure: everything happens for a reason – it’s all for the best. After Bydgoszcz I was a bit alarmed, and I looked at my training and jumping in a new way. But on the whole, I’m satisfied with this winter season. I got a world record, and victory at the world championships – all the central objectives were reached. Vitaly Afanasevich and I considered the other starts secondary.

- Next up – the last day of the world championships in Valencia. Will we see Yelena Isinbaeva in the stands as a fan?
- Certainly, after all, I’m captain of our team. I’ll absolutely go to the stadium, to pass the baton of achieving gold medals (laughing). We have five top awards planned, so today we need to win four more. I only have one question now: where can I get a Russian flag?

[BruceFlorman]

BTW...

...
[March 8th = International Women's Day - BF]
...

I know Women's Day isn't much celebrated here in the US, and obviously I'm a big Isi-fan, but it would've been cool if Jennski had won on March 8th. "Women's Day" in Russian is Женский день, which is pronounced roughly: "Zhenskiy dyen". So yesterday should've been Jennsky's day.

[slvr1969]

Yelena Isinbaeva Winning 16s Moment

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqJJsmwCXB4


For all Yelena Isinbaeva fans a 8.30min video
of Valencia WIC 2008 Final Attemps 4.65 4.75 4.85

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkoDxSvIdos

Yelena Isinbaeva medal ceremony video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-Wgccd6LUw

For ISI fanatics like me here is some videos

http://www.boomspeed.com/javo

Video From Yelena's Web page

http://www.yelenaisinbaeva.com/videogal ... s.cfm?id=6

[slvr1969]

My girlfriend wants to know what training program does Isinbaeva do to get a tone up body with not to much muscle? Any Ideas?

[Jennapv]

Not too much muscle?? Have you seen this woman??

[slvr1969]

Here is videos and photos of Isi.

For 2000+ Photos
http://www.boomspeed.com/javo

[vault3rb0y]

Hmm, 2200+ pictures... Nice "collection"!

She tones up like that with a combination of running workouts and gymnastic exercises, i would assume. But she definitely is not short on muscle, 95% of guys dont have abs and arms like hers. Check out the training forum on this site and look up bubkas workouts, i would assume she does something similiar.

[slvr1969]

Thank you, She has got very nice body!!! My girlfriend is so jealous of her!!!!!!![/quote]

[vault3rb0y]

I bet. I wouldn't be very happy if my girlfriend had over 2000 pictures of bubka on her personal website... id be a little worried lol.

[BruceFlorman]

Posted yesterday on AllSport.ru ...

18:01 04.04.2008 – Light athletics
A special representative of the ARAF will observe Yelena Isinbaeva’s preparation for the Olympic Games

In the latter half of April the All-Russian Athletics Federation (ARAF) will send senior jumps trainer Anton Nazarov to the Italian town of Formia to observe the training of the Olympic Games, World and European champion, women’s pole vault world record holder, Yelena Isinbaeva. Valentin Maslakov, head coach of the Russian athletics team, reported this to the agency of sport information "All Sport".

“Questions were raised at the last session of the Olympic preparation staff about Yelena Isinbaeva’s training,” said Valentin Maslakov. “If Lena wants to win, now, when so little time remains before the Olympic Games, then to be distracted by outside factors is intolerable. Yes, she’s a public person, but for the time being, she needs to forego the articles, photos-sessions, and numerous interviews. In the latter half of April the senior jumps trainer of the Russian team, Anton Nazarov, will visit Yelena Isinbaeva and her personal trainer Vitaly Petrov at the base in Formia Italy, as our special representative and observer. He will on no account interfere in the process of preparation, but he will report to Lena and Vitaly Afanasevich our view of the problem and, so to speak, inspect them (laughing). Isinbaeva and Petrov, naturally, have nothing against Nazarov’s forthcoming visit. This is a working trip, which I hope will help us move together further in the right direction.”

Wow... perception becomes reality. I'm no expert on these things, but it seems to me that a collection of really minor things have combined to give the impression that Isi’s been goofing off and neglecting her training.

She only competed four times this winter, but she did break the indoor world record yet again, and continues to be the only gal to ever clear 4.90+, a feat that she’s accomplished a number of times, even over the past two years since she split with Trofimov and began “reconstructing” her technique under Petrov’s tutelage.

Yes, it’s unfortunate that the Laureus awards were scheduled right smack between Donetsk and Bydgoszcz this year – they were in April last year, and May in ’06 – but I honestly think that skipping the ceremony would’ve been pretty difficult for her. She was the reigning sportswoman of the year, was nominated again, and the ceremony was being held in Russia for the first time ever. If it was sufficiently important for Vladimir Putin to attend, I don’t think she could’ve very well blown it off. It would’ve been much more realistic for her to blow off Bydgoszcz, and in retrospect, maybe she wishes that she had. But I just don’t see how deciding to honor her commitment to the Polish organizers constitutes slacking off.

But I think there’s something else that’s contributing to the perception. When she jumped 4.95 in Donetsk, her scoring line was maybe a little unusual:

Code: Select all

467 477 487 494 495
o   o   xxo xx  o

She’s already won with her 4.77 clearance, but rather than going straight after the record, she decided to take an intermediate height, had a little trouble with it, but was still successful. Afterwards, Yuri Yuris, a writer for the Russian sports rag Sport Express, spoke with Bubka about it, and Sergey was a bit critical:

I reckon that Lena committed a tactical blunder on Saturday, and nearly cost her, and all of us, a world record. After good jumps at 4.67 and 4.77 she needed to immediately go after the world record. The normal tactics for a sportswoman of this level, who has no real rivals in the sector: the first height – a warm-up, the second – victory, the third – the record. I myself always adhered to precisely this approach, without wasting energy on excess jumps. Lena, for some reason, ordered up 4.87, which brought her nothing but superfluous agitation and useless expenditure of strength.

A full translation is here.
I don’t know how seriously Bubka intended his criticism, but the next day Petrov responded to it in comments he gave to All Sport, taking the “blame” himself:

To jump the intermediate 4.87 m after Lena remained alone in the sector at 4.77 was my idea. At the first start it was important to get into a rhythm, loosen up, and get back all the competitive sensations. For this an intermediate height was required. She conquered it, and then we went after the record.

So then, after underperforming in Bydgoszcz the day after flying in from St. Petersburg… where she’d flown just one day after competing in Donetsk, her next competition was a week later, in Clermont-Auvergne France. She’d already won the meet by clearing a near-trivial 4.61, so this time, guess what? She raises the bar well over than a foot, goes straight to 4.96, and misses three times. Good thing she didn’t waste any energy on “excess jumps”.

At the WIC in Valencia, she “only” won, and didn’t get to attempt the record, since she was still in competition with Jennski when they both went out at 4.85 – a height which, if I’m not mistaken, has only been cleared on two prior occasions by women not named Yelena Isinbaeva. So maybe Valencia wasn’t Isi’s best performance ever, and maybe this indoor season didn’t go entirely as she’d hoped, but I think the notion that she’s neglected her training in favor of schmoozing and jet-setting is a bit overblown.

Edited to restore the text lost due to the old server's improper handling of non-ANSI text.

[mors]

She works so hard

http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=QBboqx7l9 ... re=related

when she had changed coach. she doubt because she change her technic
she says she wants enter history like singers painters
that people remember of this pole vaulter.
she says she doesn't know her limit
but female limit it's 5.15 5.20

i think with her last technical she could do 5m10
at helsinki or london we can see a great margin

but with her new technic ?

[slvr1969]

Her is one of Isi's most gorgeous photos!!!

http://www.boomspeed.com/javo