Sergey BUBKA

 After winning his third world pole vault title at Tokyo in 1991, Sergey Bubka continued his dominance of the event during the early part of the 1992 season, setting a new indoor world record of 6.13m on 21 February, and his 14th outdoor world record of 6.11m on 13 June. Bubka was thus an overwhelming favourite to successfully defend his title at the Barcelona Olympics held later that year, but in the final at Barcelona, on 7 August, Sergey seemed nervous in the windy conditions, and appeared rushed for time on his vaults (see photo above).

It seemed strange that the wind would upset Bubka, as he had mastered much worse conditions when he had won his first world title in 1983. A more plausible explanation was that Bubka, in the course of his many world record attempts over the years, had been allowed much more than the allowable time to prepare for his jumps, and that he had become rattled when he found the two-minute rule strictly enforced in the Olympic competition.

Bubka reinforced this theory by stating after the event 'to me it looked like the clock was running faster than usual'. Whatever the reason, the facts were that Bubka missed his first two attempts at his opening height of 5.70m, and took his next jump at 5.75m where he registered another failure, exiting the competition without recording a valid jump.

Bubka atoned for this disappointing showing by twice raising his world record after the Olympics, clearing 6.12m on 30 August, and then 6.13m on 19 September. Bubka showed none of the nervousness evident at Barcelona in the World Championships held the following year in Stuttgart. Sergey sealed the competition with three vaults, clearing 5.70m, 5.90m, and then 6.00m on his first attempts, to record his fourth consecutive world title. (Ron Casey)

During 1993, Sergey Bubka not only captured his fourth consecutive world pole vault title at Stuttgart, but he also celebrated the end of a decade in which he had totally dominated the event. People were starting to question how much longer Sergey could stay at the top, or whether he would ever vault any higher. Bubka answered these doubts at Sestriere on 31 July 1994, when he improved his world record to 6.14m. This was Bubka's 17th and last world record, and this mark would remain his career best, although it was marginally inferior to the 6.15m he had set indoors in 1993.

Bubka decided not to compete in the European Championships that year, although he was still clearly the world's best vaulter, recording 8 of the best 10 jumps set indoors or out in 1994. The following year, Bubka won his fourth World Indoor title at Barcelona on March 11, with a height of 5.90m. However, the primary interest that year was whether Bubka could extend his already unique sequence of four successive outdoor world titles at the World Championships to be held in Gothenburg. His only possible opposition appeared to be South African Okkert Brits who had finished second to Bubka at Sestriere on 29 July when both athletes cleared 6.00m.

At Gothenburg, on 11 August, Bubka was in vintage form. He opened with a failure at 5.70m, but after making an adjustment to the uprights, he cleared easily on his second attempt. Bubka then elected to pass the subsequent heights until the bar was raised to 5.92m, at which time he re-entered the competition. Charging down the runway with a determined look on his face (see photo above), Bubka captured his fifth world title when he cleared the bar on his first attempt with plenty to spare. (Ron Casey)

During his illustrious career, Sergey Bubka always enjoyed much more good fortune at the World Championships than he did at the Olympic Games. To the end of 1995, Sergey had won the world title five times from five attempts, whereas in Olympic competition, he had been denied the opportunity to compete in 1984 due to the Soviet boycott, had only just won the gold medal in 1988, and had not registered a valid jump in 1992.

Sergey was looking forward to a change of luck at Atlanta in 1996, but once again he was dogged by misfortune. While warming up for the qualifying round at Atlanta, Bubka realised that the pain from an inflamed right Achilles tendon would not allow him to compete, and he reluctantly withdrew. Bubka had the Achilles tendon operated on in December 1996, and in total he missed ten months of competition. Sergey returned to competition cautiously in 1997, but had only achieved a season's best of 5.60m prior to the World Championships in Athens, although he had cleared 5.80m in an exhibition.

In Athens, Bubka recorded his season's best vault of 5.70m in the qualifying round, and then equalled that height on his second attempt in the final on 10 August. Having cleared that height, Bubka then coolly passed at 5.80m and 5.86m. The next height he attempted was 5.91m, which he cleared to stay in contention, but when Maksim Tarasov (Russia) cleared at the next height of 5.96m on his first attempt, Bubka incredibly decided to pass at that height and attempt 6.01m. In a truly astonishing performance for a 33 year-old returning from injury, Bubka cleared 6.01m on his first attempt (see photo above) for an unprecedented sixth successive world title. Bubka only competed sparingly in subsequent years, and retired towards the end of the 2000 outdoor season. (Ron Casey)