Isinbayeva aims for the skies like Bubka
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-09-06 05:53

When her coach asked her years ago, "Do your know Bubka?" Yelena Isinbayeva was dumbfounded. "Who is she?" the Russian asked.

Now that Isinbayeva breaks pole vault world records at the same pace the legendary Sergei Bubka once did, she knows all too well.

"Now I have met with him," the 22-year-old said after she broke the pole vault world record for the fifth time this season. Her jump of 4.92 metres was the highlight of Friday's Van Damme Memorial.

Like Bubka, she raises the record by a mere centimetre almost at will, raking in the bonuses and edging closer and closer to the magical 5-metre mark.

For now, she can wait, teasing the world with the incremental increases.

"If I jump five metres now, who knows what comes after? Maybe nothing," she said.

She gladly admits she has already jumped five metres three times in training - even though it was done on a special extended runway.

She seems to be able to up the ante at will. At the Olympics, with gold already assured and the whole world watching, she clinched her fourth world mark with all the ease in the world.

On Friday, before a sellout crowd of 47,000 at the King Baudouin Stadium, Isinbayeva stole the show again, missing twice at the record height before easily clearing it on her last jump.

The crowd went delirious when she shouted "I love you," over the public address system, then danced round the track to Tina Turner's "Simply the Best."

She later went on stage to sing the Russian anthem with local singing star Helmut Lotti.

The only time her beaming smile froze is when she was reminded of the tragedy in southern Russia, where reportedly more than 200 people died in hostage-taking at a school.

She had not watched television or spoken with people about the tragedy, preparing for the competition with a single-minded determination.

The Olympics left her tired and drained, but once she saw the knowledgeable crowd in Brussels, there was no stopping her. She even asked the stadium's African drum band to pick up the rhythm to launch her into her record attempts.

"When I started here I felt so good I wanted to give a show."

In other events, Saif Saaeed Shaheen, who was barred from the Olympics because of a nationality switch from his native Kenya to Qatar, set a world record in the 3,000-metre steeplechase of 7 minutes, 53.63 seconds, smashing the old mark of 7:55.28 by Moroccan Brahim Boulami three years ago in Brussels.

Felix Sanchez's three-year winning streak in the 400 hurdles ended when he was forced to abandon the race halfway through, apparently with a left thigh injury. It also threw the Dominican world and Olympic champion out of contention for the US$1 million Golden League jackpot.

South African high jumper Hestrie Cloete lost her shot at the jackpot when she was beaten by Olympic champion Yelena Slesarenko. That leaves just Olympic 400-metre champion Tonique Williams-Darling of the Bahamas and triple jump gold medallist Christian Olsson of Sweden to vie for the jackpot at the last Golden League meet in Berlin next week.

Double Olympic champion Hicham El Guerrouj abandoned his world record attempt in the 3,000 before the start, complaining of fatigue and illness.

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