Yelena Isinbayeva

About Yelena Isinbayeva

Yelena Gadzhievna Isinbayeva (Russian: Елена Гаджиевна Исинбаева; born June 3, 1982 (1982-06-03) (age 26) in Volgograd) is a Russian pole vaulter. She won the 2004 Olympic Gold Medal with a new World Record (then 4.91 m), was elected Female Athlete of the Year by the IAAF twice (2004 and 2005), and Sportswoman of the Year by Laureus. On July 22, 2005, she became the first female pole vaulter to clear the metric barrier of 5.00 metres.

At the age of 26 she is seen as the best female pole vaulter in history. She has already been a 8-time major champion (Olympic, World outdoor and indoor champion and European outdoor and indoor champion).

Her current world records are 5.04 m outdoors, a record Isinbayeva set at a gala in Monaco on July 29, 2008, and 4.95 m indoors, a record set at the Donetsk indoor meeting on February 16, 2008. The former was Isinbayeva's twenty-third world record.