"Choosing the right pole is like gambling," Bubka said with bright-eyed satisfaction at his analogy. He also mentioned choosing the wrong pole a vaulter carries four or five poles, which can be bent to varying degrees depending on the circumstances: the weather, the height needed, one's own self-assurance, or lack of it. Maybe I took too long to prepare for my jumps, or it may have been my nerves that played me up." At length, he gave a statement that was handed out: "Most of us had problems with the swirling wind on the runup, and I was definitely one of them. He had refused to talk with reporters after his Olympic failure. "I did not believe in it for a couple of days."īubka, wearing a white and black sweat suit, removed his legs from the arm of an easy chair in his hotel room and leaned forward intently when asked: What happened in Barcelona? Might this happen again in Atlanta? Bubka grew up speaking Russian, but after more than a decade visiting the United States, his English is good. "It was quite unbelievable," said Tarasov, speaking of his unexpected victory, although he might as well have meant Bubka's demise. Tarasov may or may not be remembered as the pole vault champion of the 1992 Olympics after Bubka, the surest bet in Barcelona, failed to clear any height - pole vaulters call it "no-heighting." Bubka got whistled out of the stadium - big-time booing in Europe. He has cleared 6.0 meters (19-8 1/4) 40 times everyone else has combined to do it only eight times. He is the only athlete to win a gold medal at all five outdoor world championships (1983, 1987, 1991, 19). (He has set some of the records by a mere fraction of an inch, enabling him to pocket bonus money, a capitalistic practice he began well before the collapse of the Soviet Union.) Among his indoor records are the first 20-foot vault, in 1991, and the current best, 20-2, set in 1993 his outdoor record is 20-1 3/4. "Concerning Sergei," said the blond Russian pole vaulter, Maksim Tarasov, "he is not only the star of pole vault, he is the star of track and field - a bit different level." For certain, Bubka's presence abroad is extremely large on a building wall in frigid Lillehammer during the 1992 Winter Olympics was a rendition of Sergei, several stories high, in his shorts.īubka has set records 35 times (18 times indoors, 17 times outdoors). Everyone is looking, the clapping has stopped, and as Bubka hangs in a nanosecond of suspense, there is suddenly not a sound in the building. It's all one motion, like a person turning over in bed. Rising not quite even with the bar, he fires off the top of the pole, of which he lets go while continuing upward and turning his body counter-clockwise, so that his stomach will be closest to the bar when he clears it, feet-first. He creates the impression that if it were possible to continue indefinitely on his upside-down, upward course, he might sink the spikes of his shoes into the Garden ceiling and be left hanging there. His feet rise above his hips, and the pole, bent back from his weight at takeoff, catapults him vertically up an unseen elevator shaft. He plants his pole in the vaulting box and lifts off. That maneuver enables him to fling himself forward quickly, almost to the speed of a sprinter even while lugging the awkwardly long, bobbing lance that weighs about 6 1/4 pounds but can feel eight times as heavy when held close to one end. He looks up, and with his left hand lifts the distant end of the pole high toward the rafters. He's been in tougher situations: He needed a third try to win a gold medal at the 1988 Seoul Olympics he faced elimination before winning the 1991 world championship in Tokyo. He is 6 feet 1, 178 pounds, dark-haired, blue-eyed, handsome enough to be in films. Bubka (pronounced BOOB-ka) feels the vibrations of support: The 32-year-old master in his sleeveless gold shirt and gold shorts pumps his left fist twice at the end of the runway, his right hand high up on his 17-foot fiberglass pole, the front end of the pole resting on the Garden path leading toward his third and final attempt to clear the bar, which is set at 19 feet 2 1/4 inches - roughly the height of a two-story house.īubka bows his head, bringing his thoughts to bear. The sound grows until it seems as if everyone at Madison Square Garden is keeping beat to a lively dance in his native Ukraine. Rhythmic clapping erupts among the 15,000 for one of the world's great athletes, pole vaulter Sergei Bubka.
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