Isi updates ...

[mors]

thanks, i didn't see the ceremonies. it's funny that she cried here but didn't in greece

[BruceFlorman]

From the Memorial Van Damme website today...

Athletes shine on catwalk

As is the tradition in the run-up to the Belgacom Memorial Van Damme a fashion show was held with the athletes as models. Take a look at the pictures and sample the atmosphere via Belgacom Memorial Van Damme TV.

Kim Gevaert, Elodie Ouedraogo and Yelena Isinbayeva shined on the catwalk. Hanna Mariën, Olivia Borlée and Muriel Hurtis looked fantastic in a rather unsual outfit as well.

Take a look at the pictures

Sample the event via Belgacom Memorial Van Damme TV

[slvr1969]

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[annagb]

On the EAA website there is this article http://www.european-athletics.org/index ... 2&Itemid=2

Figures released from Chinese Television (CCTV) have confirmed that Russian Pole Vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva is the most popular sports personality among Chinese Olympic TV viewers.

With this final statement:

With rumours circulating that the beautiful Russian also hopes to establish her own fashion label, life post Beijing is certainly not going to be boring for Yelena Isinbayeva.

[BruceFlorman]

While poking around the Russian Olympic team website this evening, I came across a few slideshows in their photogallery that others might like.

Women's PV final: http://picasaweb.google.com/komanda2008 ... #slideshow

Men's PV medal ceremony: http://picasaweb.google.com/komanda2008 ... #slideshow

Russian compound in Beijing... (starts with Isi in the rain): http://picasaweb.google.com/komanda2008 ... #slideshow

[rainbowgirl28]

Yelena thanks her fans (in English)

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

[slvr1969]

.

[dj]

Hello

Found this and wanted to share.. didn’t know if it was out there yet..
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

HOW TO…

Break a world record
By Yelena Isinbayeva

from SPIKESMAG.COM

PHASE I
The first things to get right are the run-up and the correct hold on the pole. In the last
six steps of my run-up (left) my knee lift becomes lower. The picture below is the plant
and take-off. You will see that the top of the pole is bending, so I did a good plant. The
most important parts of the vault are the run-up, the plant and the take-off. If you do
something wrong here you will not perform a good roll back [the next phase of the pole vault].

PHASE II
I think my gymnastics experience helps me with the roll back (right). Girls without
gymnastics experience could not do it as well. Ideally, I would like my head and shoulders
a little higher than they are in this picture.

PHASE III
The final stage is me going over the bar. If there is not enough power in my previous
phases, you will not catapult over the bar. If you get it right, you can smile – as in the picture below!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sorry I couldn’t get the pictures……..

dj

[slvr1969]

.

[BruceFlorman]

Well, with the season over now, I guess it's back to "tabloid reporting" for me.

Isinbaeva showed off her man

Yelena appeared in the company of the young man named Artem

Yelena and Artem - a beautiful couple!

279437.jpg (16.75 KiB) Viewed 7992 times

Gleb GUBAREV - 24.09.2008

“We have already heard the name of Lena Isinbaeva’s beloved man - at the Olympic Games in Beijing, after her splendid victory, our outstanding athlete, and one of the most beautiful sportswomen in the world shouted: “Happy birthday, Mama! Artem, I really love you!”

But who had won the golden heart of the celebrated jumper? There were many rumors: Some argued that the mysterious suitor was also an athlete and pole vaulter, some thought that it was one of Yelena’s trainers, and there was also a version according to which Isinbaeva’s chosen had no general involvement in sports. So it proved to be in the end. Artem, as it turns out, works as a DJ. He is a native of Donetsk. Isinbaeva showed off Artem to the public at a party which took place last week as part of the “Shanghai Golden Grand Prix”.

Incidentally, the fact that Lena and Artem live in different countries is no problem for the beautiful champion. “I’m not going to move to Ukraine,” smiles Isinbaeva. “I’d rather take him with me.”

[BruceFlorman]

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

Yelena Isinbayeva (RUS) is the female Waterford Crystal European Athlete of the Year 2008

01.10.2008
Yelena Isinbayeva, often called the Queen of Pole Vaulting, has capped another tremendous year by being voted the female Waterford Crystal European Athlete of the Year 2008.

The 26-year-old Russian superstar was a clear winner of the internet poll in which European Athletics' Member Federations, the general public and media could all vote.

Her unbeaten outdoor season included three world records, topped by the 5.05m clearance which won her the gold medal at the Olympic Games in Beijing.

"I wanted to win at the Olympics but I don't think I would have been truly happy if I hadn't set a world record. After all, that's what I did when I won my first Olympic title in Athens four years ago," said Isinbayeva.

"I was motivated to do well this year because at the end of last year, and the start of this summer, some people were saying that I couldn't improve any more and that my days at the top were coming to an end. That made me a little angry," admitted Isinbayeva.

This year is the second occasion that Isinbayeva has received European Athletics' top honour.

She also won in 2005 but it is a mark of her consistency at the very highest level, and the public affection for her, that she has not been outside the top three of the voting for the Waterford Crystal European Athlete of the Year in the last five years.

In addition to her outdoor triumphs, with 10 consecutive victories in 2008, she also set a world indoor record of 4.95m in January and went on to win the World Indoor title in the Spanish city of Valencia in March.

Isinbayeva has now not been beaten at a global or continental championship since she finished third at the 2003 World Championships.

Despite the fact that Isinbayeva continued her domination of her event, she has confessed it was a far from simple task to take her second consecutive Olympic gold medal. She acknowledged that celebrity and stardom in the sporting world comes with an emotional price tag.

"The problem for me in Beijing was psychological as I knew physically that I was in the best shape I've ever been in. In Athens, I was the favourite but not in the same way I was at this year's Olympics. This time there was pressure, from everywhere.


"No one thought I could lose but it's never that easy. On the outside, I was doing my best to stay calm but inside I was trembling. In the Olympic village I tried to hide, and just stayed in my room most of the time, thinking about the day of the competition.

"But everyone knows me while I knew that I needed to concentrate and focus on the competition. I put on sunglasses and a hat to try to disguise myself when I went to the dining room but at the same time I couldn't walk the other way if someone came up to me to talk, that would be ridiculous," she joked.

Her Olympic gold medals in Athens and Beijing now mean that one of her lifelong ambitions has been fulfilled, although at the London Olympics in 2012 she has hopes to become the first woman to win the same individual event at three consecutive Games.

"I've been dreaming about being an Olympic Champion since I was five years old, although my sport was then gymnastics," reflected Isinbayeva.

However, she still has another target in her sights, one established by her friend and mentor, the Ukrainian Pole Vault legend Sergey Bubka. "My goal is to beat the 35 world records that Sergey set."

After this year's exploits, she has now 24 world records - indoors and out - to her name and the tally should continue to rise in the coming years as her soaring clearances when the bar has been set above 5.00m this summer have shown there is little sign of her reaching her limit.

Yelena Isinbayeva will be presented her award at the European Athletics Awards Dinner in Amsterdam on Saturday 18 Oct.


Click here for the full female ranking list



Previous Winners 1993-2007

1993 Sally Gunnell GBR

1994 Irina Privalova RUS

1995 Sonia O'Sullivan IRL

1996 Svetlana Masterkova RUS

1997 Astrid Kumbernuss GER

1998 Christine Arron FRA

1999 Gabriela Szabo ROU

2000 Trine Hattestad NOR

2001 Stephanie Graf AUT

2002 Süreyya Ayhan TUR

2003 Carolina Klüft SWE

2004 Kelly Holmes GBR

2005 Yelena Isinbayeva RUS

2006 Carolina Klüft SWE

2007 Blanka Vlasic CRO


Yelena Isinbayeva's season 2008

Code: Select all

Height  Position  Event                  Date
4.95i   WR PB 1   Zepter Donetsk         16 Feb
4.61i   2=        Pedro's Cup Bydgoszcz  20 Feb
4.61i   1         Gaz Aubière            26 Feb
4.55i   1q        WC Valencia            7 Mar
4.75i   1         WC Valencia            8 Mar   
5.03    WR 1      GGala Roma             11 Jul   
4.85    1         DNG Stockholm          22 Jul
4.93    1         Aviva London           25 Jul
5.04    WR 1      Herc Monaco            29 Jul
5.05    WR  PB 1  OG Beijing             18 Aug
4.88    1         WK Zurich              29 Aug
4.72    1         VD Bruxelles           5 Sep
4.60    1         Golden Shanghai        20 Sep
4.60    1         Colorful Daegu         25 Sep

The Waterford Crystal Male European Athlete of the Year 2008 will be announced tomorrow...

[BruceFlorman]

16:19 01.10.2008 – Athletics
Yelena Isinbaeva and Andrey Silnov named best athletes of the year by the ARAF

Today, October 1st, at the reporting-and-election conference of the All-Russian Athletics Federation (ARAF) the best athletes and coaches of the year according to the ARAF were named. They are Yelena Isinbaeva and Andrey Silnov. So reports the special correspondent of the Agency of Sports information "All sport".

The first part of the voting took place on the official site of the ARAF http://www.rusathletics.com, whose totals contributed 1/3 of the candidates’ votes. The remaining and deciding votes belonged to the delegates at the ARAF reporting-and-election conference. After counting the votes the best Russian athletes of 2008 for men and women were declared to be Andrey Silnov (high jump) and Yelena Isinbaeva (pole vault).

– The second and third place among men were Valery Borchin (walking) and Yevgeny Lukyanenko (pole vault); among women - Gulnara Galkina-Samitova (3000 m steeplechase) and Tatyana Lebedeva (long jump and triple jump).

For the title of best coach of the year, only conference delegates voted. Their choice for the best coach in 2008 is Yevgeny Zagorulko, the personal coach of Andrey Silnov and Anna Chicherova. In second place, Yelena Isinbaeva’s coach Vitaly Petrov, and third, the head of TSSP for sport walking in Saransk, Victor Chegin.