Yelena Isinbayeva: Of all things record-breaking

Yelena Isinbayeva is all smiles after taking the gold at the recent IAAF World Championships in Moscow (Getty Images)

“I like that I can control my body,” she said. “I like to fly. I like those feelings when you’re over the bar. It’s more beautiful than other track and field events.”

A 31-year-old 27-time world record holder goes out and registers her 28th one after a long time. She then announces an 18-month intermission from the sport to have a baby, build a family and give her baby the enormous spectacle of witnessing her mother gunning for a third Olympic gold.

Yelena Isinbayeva is toying with sport; rewriting what it takes to get to the top and stay there too. She jumps roughly thrice her own height every time in competition with, guess wh0 – herself!

Nobody can beat me, nobody, so sorry for this,” Isinbayeva giggled.”The other girls, they need to jump higher to even come close, but I don’t think it will. Right now, it is impossible. No chance.”

A sport that rose from being a yesteryear ploy of crossing swampy areas in the Netherlands just witnessed its best female practitioner come good yet again. Bagging a third World Championship gold recently at Moscow could well have been just another day at the office for the Volgograd-born lass, but you don’t announce maternity breaks after one either, do you?

But sometimes, or maybe, just this one time, confidence in one’s abilities allows you that joy. Such clear-mindedness seems like a work of art; beautiful to behold and endearing to fathom.

Declared too tall to take up gymnastics, something she was passionate about, Yelena took to pole-vaulting, and within six months of it, landed a World Youth Games gold like she had been vaulting all her life.

Agitation gripped her when pole-vaulting was first suggested to her. The pole felt alien, making her feel like being stuck in the wrong job. She made friends with it soon enough though, as it became her most able ally in a hunky-dory career.

Isinbayeva has kept her own flag as well as that of Russia flying high in the athletics domain over the last decade (Getty Images)

By the year 2000, pole-vault made its Olympic debut, which wasn’t exactly the best one for Isinbayeva as she couldn’t get past the qualifying round. She definitely didn’t have it easy in her fledgling years in the sport and tasted much-awaited success a year later in 2001.

She kept her ascension on course with a spate of gold medals in the next couple of years, with stupendous showings at the European Championships, junior Championships and the European U-23 Championships. The build-up to her first world record had a confident ring to it and came as no surprise when it did happen.

The world record 4.82 metres she scaled knocked into her a readiness to push the limit each time she contested. If it had been about trying to be the best so far, the world-record breaking act transformed her into a bundle of quiet composure – someone not just ready to compete, but to win.

And these wins which she engineers so effortlessly and joyfully are hinged on an impeccable gymnastic background. Subjecting her body to the most trying configurations has been a delight for the Russian. It is widely believed that in her formative years, Yelena spent much of her time doing saltos, double saltos and the like, which have greatly enhanced her pole-vaulting skills.

The first world record was a harbinger of bigger things as she kept hoarding world records, pushing the bar each time she competed, sometimes failing, generally succeeding and looking primed for more.

The tremendous body balance she wields made her the first woman ever to breach the 5-metre barrier. It was a threshold that had mythical proportions, now brought down to its very knees by a marauding Isinbayeva.

A gold medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics paled in comparison to this record-breaking stereotype-smashing myth-busting moment of brilliance.

This patented brand of superiority relies on an exemplary “L-phase” that she has. For the uninitiated, the “L-phase” is the critical phase where it is vital to use the pole’s rebound to gain height from the horizontal speed achieved.

Her flawless second-phase running is a league above the entire field and is reckoned to be as professional as the men’s category, even better than most, as put forth by pole vault coach Steve Rippon.

Supple limbs provide her near-perfect take-offs and she promptly uses horizontal speed generated from the run to manifest as height. The 5.06 m world record that stands even to this day was a culmination of a continuous struggle against herself. She was her own biggest competitor, and with each record-breaking feat, followed it up with even tougher assignments.

Breaking records has been child’s play for Isinbayeva (Getty Images)

The assignments sit pretty now as world records, 28 of them, yet they never rest comfortably on Isinbayeva’s consciousness. The lady mulls on them as happy memories of hard work paying off, while a part of her tugs away at her heart, urging her to go one better. That’s an impostor, and if not taken the right way, could initiate a breakdown of psyches and careers.

At 31, she is definitely not getting younger, if her recent injuries and troubles are any indication. Her rivals have closed in on her quite a bit, even though it still appears Isinbayeva’s record could be a mirage for even her most capable opponents.

An officer in the Russian army, Isinbayeva believes it gives her greater joy to win when the body may not be the most responsive. The absolute joy of winning despite being notches below one’s best through good old grit and gumption is a heady feeling.

Her gold at the Beijing Olympics was followed by a bronze at the London Olympics; a sign of things to come. She is definitely not at the peak of her powers, but has enough to keep coming back and chip away at greatness.

Even as she waits in the wings bringing up a family, she presents a refreshing image of a sportswoman high on skill, heart and conviction, and her life could well be amongst the greatest sports careers ever put together.

Strutting her wins with the trademark flag-hugging spread-eagled pose, Isinbayeva is disarmingly shy even with her movie star like vibes. As she slips into the role of an inspiring mom, it will be a treat to watch her defy odds and come back for the Rio Olympics 2016 in the quest for an unprecedented third Olympic gold.