Sports/Olympics / Feature and Column
Athletics - No easy ride for Russian pole vault queen Isinbayeva
by Reuters
Updated: 2006-03-18 15:43
MOSCOW, March 14 (Reuters) - She has been hailed as the queen of
athletics and Russia's newest sweetheart, but life does not get any
easier for Olympic pole vault champion and world record holder Yelena
Isinbayeva.
After adding the world indoor title to an already glittering medal
collection, the 23-year-old Volgograd native was probably expecting to
receive new accolades.
Instead, she faced a barrage of questions from demanding local press,
more interested in a possible tie-up with Chelsea billionaire owner Roman
Abramovich's oil company than her sporting triumphs.
To her credit, she took the media blitz in her stride.
Only once Isinbayeva lost her cool when a reporter asked her if she had
spoken to former coach Yevgeny Trofimov.
"No questions about Trofimov," she cut the reporter off.
The Russian dropped a bombshell last November, dumping her long-time
mentor and hiring Vitaly Petrov, the former coach of pole vault great
Sergei Bubka.
Trofimov was spotted in the stands of the Olympic sports complex over the
weekend openly cheering for Isinbayeva's main rival Svetlana Feofanova.
The 2003 world champion and Olympic silver medallist won bronze in Moscow
-- her first international competition following an 18-month absence
through a back injury.
ICY RELATIONSHIP
Another journalist wanted to know about Isinbayeva's icy relationship
with fellow Russian. The two, sitting side-by-side, hardly looked at each
other during a news conference.
"You see, we're not fighting with each other," Isinbayeva said
sarcastically while Feofanova just smiled.
"We're not friends but we don't have to be enemies either."
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