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Current pole vaulters lack technique: Sergey Bubka
New Delhi, Mar 17 (PTI)

Legendary pole vaulter Sergey Bubka reckons the 6.14m mark he set way back in 1994 still remains uneclipsed because his successors are not technically equipped enough.


"It is better to ask athletes who are still competing, why they cannot jump higher. But I think it has to do with their technique," the six consecutive IAAF World Champion said during the Laureus sports award in Abu Dhabi recently.

"It is technique that can allow them to jump 6.20, 6.30 and go to another level. I think this (technique) is the main reason why they came close but could not better the mark," he explained.

The Ukrainian legend, who broke the world record for men's pole vault 35 times -- 17 outdoor and 18 indoor -- has only one Olympics gold and the maestro said he wanted to have more.

"I'm lucky to win one gold medal. Of course, in some way, I missed 1984 because of boycott. It could have been a good chance. Another time I was injured. I tried to be back but didn't succeed.

"Olympics is Olympics, it is the most powerful and popular event. I wanted to have more but perhaps I deserved only one," Bubka said.

Though he had complete dominance on pole vaulting at his time, he was highly unlucky in the Olympic Games. The first Olympics after his introduction into international athletics was in 1984, which was boycotted by the USSR.

Two months before the games, Bubka vaulted 12 cm higher than the eventual Olympic gold medal winner Pierre Quinon.

In 1988, Bubka entered the Seoul Olympics and won his only Olympic gold but in 1992 he failed to clear in his first three attempts and was out of the Barcelona Olympics.

A heel injury spoilt his Atlanta Olympics in 1996 as he was forced to withdraw from the competition without making even a single jump and in the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Bubka was eliminated from the final after three attempts at 5.70 m.
The strapping vaulter officially retired in 2001.

Asked whom he considers to be the best among the current vaulters, Bubka said, "Today most impressive are the female pole vaulters because we don't have stronger leader in men. Last year's Steve Hooker was in leading position in Olympics but the most impressive is Yelena Isinbayeva."

Bubka won his first gold in the 1983 World Championships in Helsinki, clearing 5.70 metres and then went on to win five successive golds in pole vaulting in World Championship till 1997 in Athens.

Until the collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in late 1991, Bubka competed for Soviet teams and later represented Ukraine.

Yeah I am sure that tougher drug testing, shorter pegs, rounder crossbar ends, and shorter time clocks have nothing to do with it...

Good call on the drug testing changes. The more jumps you take, the better technical model you can put together. Eastern block in the 80's and 90's probably took quite a few jumps. People have seen Bubkas insane workouts and he somehow managed to still have several jump sessions a week. Can't wait until his record goes down, he will probably not be impressed and still ride Isi's bandwagon.

"Yeah I am sure that tougher drug testing, shorter pegs, rounder crossbar ends, and shorter time clocks have nothing to do with it. I am very disappointed in you Becca - I really did think you knew better. I thought you really believed as I do that the critical limitation with most vaulters is their technique. Perhaps you were jet lagged when you wrote that waspish comment.

If everything had been the same as it was in Bubka's day is there any chance that Steve would have cleared ANY of his attempts at a world record so far? Conversely on how many jumps did Bubka hit the bar on successful jumps - I have seen a lot of jumps live and on film and and have never seen it. As to time - Petrov told me that in Seoul, Bubka was on the runway waiting to jump before he was called and took off the instant the official called him. Then the old chestnut of drugs - strange because the vast majority of US coaches believed that he was just a super physical specimen - it is what is called hearsay evidence - or slander depending on your point of view - and especially interesting since US athletes -not pole vaulters I hasten to add BUT - have lead the cavalcade of druggies.

rainbowgirl28 wrote:Yeah I am sure that tougher drug testing, shorter pegs, rounder crossbar ends, and shorter time clocks have nothing to do with it...

Low blow!
Anyone who has seen some of Bubka's most successfull jumps will say, that crossbar ends and pegs had NO influence what so ever. Allegations of taking drugs, can only be seen as slander.

I am not accusing Bubka of taking drugs, I am just saying that for the sport as a whole (and in pretty much all events) we are generally not as deep as we used to be and the changes I listed are one of the reasons. Maybe the decrease in support and $$ in the sport is another reason.

I have seen the video of Bubka's 6.15 day, and while he made 6.15 clean, at one of the lower heights (5.70?) he volzed the hell out of the bar. We've had this discussion before. I am sure Bubka could have jumped just as high on short pegs, but at some of his meets he would have gone out at lower heights, so had he followed the same path of raising his best 1cm at a time, there is no way he would have made it to 6.15. Had he taken more chances or set multiple WRs in one day, I am sure he could have jumped just as high under the current rules.

" but at some of his meets he would have gone out at lower height" Which meets Becca? -were you there? - If so when and where? Or have you seen film - if you have I would like to see it!

I know the meet becca is talking about, the one in Donetsk, and yea, he volzed his 3rd attempt at 5.90, however, that was one occasion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWGyzPNXI_U (at 6:49).

And I don't know why you even bothered bringing drug testing into the equation. You make it seem like athletes should have the opportunity to illegally use them. Honestly, the testing should probably be tougher than it already is, and you can probably thank OTHER AMERICAN ATHLETES for that, if in fact, US athletes lead the way in that respect. (though, as Altuis said, there hasn't been much problem with elite vaulters; I can only think of 2-3 confirmed and 2 'rumored' abusers off the top of my head). -6P

testing should probably be tougher than it already is, and you can probably thank OTHER AMERICAN ATHLETES for that

and especially interesting since US athletes -not pole vaulters I hasten to add BUT - have lead the cavalcade of druggies

Staying out of the rest of this argument... but do you guys really think the USA is more dirty than other countries?!? We have lead the world in drug testing measures and as a result caught some of our best athletes. Because we are not tolarent of cheaters! However, not all NGBs take this approach. Many countries resist drug testing until forced by the IAAF in order to PROTECT their athletes. A large number of top foreign athletes have never had a random out of competition drug test. This is why more Americans test positive: more Americans are tested!

Testing probably should be tougher than it already is...in some countries. In the USA, it can't get tougher! We are already available 24 hours a day for random drug tests, with a one hour window where we must be exactly where we say for the entire hour EVERY DAY! I have been tested at least once a quarter since 2004. This is not mandated by anyone outside of the USA. The American elite athletes chose tougher punishments than required by the IAAF for athletes caught cheating. We have made it nearly impossible to cheat and not get caught (unless you have huge resources $$$). Meanwhile, there are many high level athletes around the world who have only been tested at the world champs or olympics, if at all.

In Becca's defense, there were MANY things that were not banned 20 years ago that are banned now. Drug testing almost didn't exsist. I don't think you got a 2 year suspension for taking cold medicine on the day of the meet...

Erica wrote:

testing should probably be tougher than it already is, and you can probably thank OTHER AMERICAN ATHLETES for that

and especially interesting since US athletes -not pole vaulters I hasten to add BUT - have lead the cavalcade of druggies

Staying out of the rest of this argument... but do you guys really think the USA is more dirty than other countries?!? We have lead the world in drug testing measures and as a result caught some of our best athletes. Because we are not tolarent of cheaters! However, not all NGBs take this approach. Many countries resist drug testing until forced by the IAAF in order to PROTECT their athletes. A large number of top foreign athletes have never had a random out of competition drug test. This is why more Americans test positive: more Americans are tested!

Testing probably should be tougher than it already is...in some countries. In the USA, it can't get tougher! We are already available 24 hours a day for random drug tests, with a one hour window where we must be exactly where we say for the entire hour EVERY DAY! I have been tested at least once a quarter since 2004. This is not mandated by anyone outside of the USA. The American elite athletes chose tougher punishments than required by the IAAF for athletes caught cheating. We have made it nearly impossible to cheat and not get caught (unless you have huge resources $$$). Meanwhile, there are many high level athletes around the world who have only been tested at the world champs or olympics, if at all.

In Becca's defense, there were MANY things that were not banned 20 years ago that are banned now. Drug testing almost didn't exsist. I don't think you got a 2 year suspension for taking cold medicine on the day of the meet...

None of this is different than what it's like in Europe. Everyone who's anywhere close to being in the national team, are required to report whereabouts, and tests are being done regularly. Sure, there have been some documentary made by a swedish film crew travelling with the doping squad trying to do tests on chinese athletes, where they had huge troubles getting access to athletes due to bureaucratic guards in front on training facilities (surely, that's not a coincidence).

As far as I can find on USADA, was 503 T&F athletes tested in 2009 (some more than once). Denmark is a tiny speck (or even smaller on the international scene), and we had 79 tests being made on T&F athletes tested in 2009. The amount of active athletes, and that includes EVERYONE form the age of 4 to infinity, is about 34000, so I would guess the amount on interesting athletes in regards to testing is less than 100 (those ending in top 5 at national championships).

BTW, Erica isn't exxagerating. 6 tests in 2008, 2 in 2009, according to USADA.

http://www.wada-ama.org/rtecontent/document/WADA_2008_LaboratoryStatisticsReport_Final.pdf

Well, we know this. Bubka says current pole vaulters lack technique. He basically has said,

"All the pole vaulters in recent history, besides myself, have lacked technique."

We had a guy jump 6.06m, the best non Bubka mark ever, and he still doesn't say any men are jumping well. Not too mention several WR attempts. You don't jump that high without doing a bunch of things right. I would say Tarasov, who had pretty darn good technique would agree. All I know, is that it is very strange, that all field event WR are pretty much set in the late 80's early 90's.

With sports science, nutrition, supplementation, therapy, and generally more knowledge in each field event, why can't anyone break a record? Technique is directly related to the jumps you can take. And an HGH test, is just now in the books. I can't help but see some sort of connection.

I like the argument about Barry Bonds. Huge Bonds supporters say that you can't take away the fact that he could hit a ball. Well, if you can spend more time than any other athlete in the batting cages, you could time up hits as well. I'm not trying to call anyone out, I'm just saying that 20 years ago was a different ballgame and for some reason, we are struggling to compete.

Regardless of how he did it, Bubka has the best technique in history of the pole vault. He just needs to give credit where credit is due.