Yelena Gadzhievna Isinbayeva (born June 3, 1982in
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 25 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 5.01 m outdoors, a
record Isinbayeva set at the 2005 World
Championships in Athletics and 4.95 m indoors, a
record set at the Donetsk indoor meeting on 16
February 2008. The latter was Isinbayeva's
twenty-first world record.
