Sergey BUBKA

Sergey Bubka totally dominated the world of pole vaulting for 15 years, performing at a level well above that of his many different rivals during that time. Bubka's first major competition was the 1981 European Junior Championships where he finished equal 7th. Bubka raised his personal best to 5.55m the following year, making him the world's leading junior in 1982. Despite this leadership amongst the junior athletes, Sergey was only rated equal 30th on the 1982 world list, and thus, he was relatively unknown when he arrived at the 1983 World Championships in Helsinki as the third string vaulter on the Soviet Union team.

The pole vault final at Helsinki on 14 August lasted nearly seven hours and was hampered by strong winds, but it was the young Bubka (see photo above) who seemed least affected by the conditions, winning the gold medal with a 5.70m clearance. Following this victory, Bubka embarked on a world record-breaking spree the following year. He set his first world record of 5.85m on 26 May, which he improved upon to 5.88m the following week, and then further increased to 5.90m in July. Bubka was denied the opportunity of competing at the Los Angeles Olympics on 8 August due to the boycott by the eastern bloc countries, but later that month in Rome, he engaged in a remarkable competition with former world record holder Thierry Vigneron (France).

Both men had cleared 5.84m, before they each missed once at a new world record height of 5.91m. Bubka then decided to pass his remaining attempts at that height, only to see Vigneron clear on his second attempt to set a new world record. Needing to clear 5.94m to win, Bubka cleared at his first attempt, regaining the world record that he had lost only ten minutes earlier. (Ron Casey)

Sergey Bubka's unexpected win in the pole vault at the 1983 World Championships heralded the beginning of his unparalleled dominance in the event, which included four separate improvements of the world record in 1984, culminating in a clearance of 5.94m. Bubka's rapid raising of the world record fuelled speculation that the 6 metres barrier might be breached in the near future. It only took Bubka until 13 July 1985 to accomplish this feat, in an international match in Paris.

After clearing 5.70m in his first vault of the competition and dispensing with the rest of the competition, Bubka had the bar raised to exactly 6.00m, which he cleared on his third attempt, to claim his fifth world record. Sergey extended this world record to 6.01m on 8 July 1986 at the Goodwill Games in Moscow. As Bubka increased his dominance over the rest of the world's vaulters, he began entering competitions at ever increasing heights, sometimes after everyone else had finished vaulting. This tactic sometimes came unstuck, as nearly happened at the 1986 European Championships in Stuttgart. Sergey needed all three attempts to clear his opening height of 5.70m, but then he cleared 5.85m on his first attempt to win the gold medal from his elder brother Vasily who finished second.

Bubka was not so fortunate at the Bislett Games in Oslo on 4 July the following year (see photo above), where he no heighted in a competition won by Bulgarian Nikolay Nikolov. On September 5 that year, at the World Championships in Rome, Bubka took a mere two vaults to retain his world title, clearing 5.70m and 5.85m on his first attempt at each height. Earlier in 1987, at a Grand Prix meeting in Prague, Bubka had set his seventh world record when he cleared 6.03m on his third attempt. (Ron Casey)

 In just over four years up to the end of 1987, Sergey Bubka had totally dominated the pole vault event, setting seven world records, and winning two world titles and a European title. The only thing he lacked was an Olympic gold medal. Sergey had been denied the opportunity of Olympic competition in 1984 due to the eastern bloc boycott of the Los Angeles Olympics, which increased Sergey's resolve to win the gold medal at Seoul in 1988.

Bubka had been the overwhelming favourite at the start of the 1988, and this position strengthened during the year, as Sergey continued to improve upon his world record. On 9 June, at Bratislava, the site of his first world record in 1984, Bubka increased his world record to 6.05m, and at a Grand Prix meeting in Nice on 10 July, he made a further improvement to 6.06m. At the Olympic Games in Seoul on 28 September, Bubka made his usual late start, not entering the competition until the bar had been raised to 5.70m.

Uncharacteristically, Bubka failed on his first try at that height, giving some hope to his rivals, although he was safely over on his second attempt. Bubka then proceeded to pass at the next three heights of 5.75m, 5.80m and 5.85m. Sergey re-entered the competition at 5.90m, but missed on both his first and second attempts, neither of which were close. Bubka was in deep trouble, needing to clear on his last attempt to secure a medal, possibly gold, while a failure would leave him in equal fourth place. Moving up to a longer pole, Bubka cleared the bar with ease, showing his relief in the pit with multiple fist clenching power displays (see photo above). As it eventuated, his 5.90m clearance was sufficient to win his much-coveted Olympic gold medal. (Ron Casey)

By the end of the 1989 season, Sergey Bubka had his pole-vaulting rivals wondering if he was invincible. Admittedly, Bubka had lost at minor meets, but the nine-times world record setter had won all the major championship titles since 1983. Although he set a new world indoor record early in 1990, Bubka was troubled by injury in the outdoor season, and after needing three attempts to clear his opening height of 5.70m at the European Championships in Split, he could go no higher, and finished in an unfamiliar 6th place.

Sergey responded to this setback the following year in the most emphatic way, setting four indoor and then four outdoor world records. Although raised on the metric system, Bubka was acutely aware that he was creeping ever closer to the 20-foot barrier, and was eager to be the first to clear this height. The world's first 20 foot clearance actually came indoors, when Bubka scaled 6.10m at San Sebastian on 15 March 1991.

He later equalled that feat in the outdoor season on 5 August. With this form behind him, it seemed a mere formality that Bubka would successfully defend his title at the World Championships in Tokyo, and he easily made it through the qualifying round on 27 August (see photo above). However, in the final two days later, Bubka was hampered by a bruised heel which required pain-killing injections.

After clearing 5.70m, Bubka's next vault was at 5.90m, which he missed. When Istvan Bagyula (Hungary) cleared 5.90m on his first attempt, Bubka gambled on a gold medal or nothing strategy by taking his remaining two attempts at 5.95m. Bubka missed his first try at 5.95m, and facing a sixth place finish if he failed on his last attempt, he cleared the bar to win his third successive world title. (Ron Casey)