34 Facts About Yelena Isinbayeva

Yelena Gadzhievna Isinbayeva is a Russian former pole vaulter.

Yelena Isinbayeva is a two-time Olympic gold medalist, a three-time World Champion, the world record holder in the event, and is widely considered the greatest female pole-vaulter of all time.

Yelena Isinbayeva retired from athletics in August 2016 after being elected to serve an 8-year term on the IOC's Athletes' Commission.

Yelena Isinbayeva has been a major champion on nine occasions.

Yelena Isinbayeva was the jackpot winner of the IAAF Golden League series in 2007 and 2009.

Yelena Isinbayeva became the first woman to clear the five-metre barrier in 2005.

Yelena Isinbayeva was named Female Athlete of the Year by the IAAF in 2004,2005 and 2008, and World Sportswoman of the Year by Laureus in 2007 and 2009.

Yelena Isinbayeva was given the Prince of Asturias Award for Sports in 2009.

Yelena Isinbayeva is one of only ten athletes to win world championships at the youth, junior, and senior level of an athletic event.

Yelena Isinbayeva ultimately left the sport because, as she grew, she was considered too tall to be competitive in gymnastics, ultimately attaining a height of 1.74 metres.

Yelena Isinbayeva ended up winning the bronze medal with Feofanova taking gold and Becker the silver.

In July 2005, Yelena Isinbayeva broke the world record four times over three separate meetings.

Yelena Isinbayeva then became the first woman in history to clear the once mythical five-metre barrier in pole vaulting, achieving the monumental mark with a single attempt.

Yelena Isinbayeva was crowned Laureus World Sports Woman of the Year for the 2006 season.

Yelena Isinbayeva was unbeaten in the 2007 season and won 18 out of 18 competitions.

Yelena Isinbayeva stated that this motivated her to maintain her reputation as the world's greatest female pole vaulter.

Yelena Isinbayeva was tantalizingly close on her final attempt, with the bar falling only after Yelena Isinbayeva had landed on the mat.

At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing on 18 August, Yelena Isinbayeva needed two vaults to prolong her Olympic title reign and went on to finish the competition with 5.05m, a world record at the time, her 24th world record.

At the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, Germany, Yelena Isinbayeva lost her second competition of the year after failing to achieve a successful vault.

Yelena Isinbayeva hoped to put her World Championships no-mark performance behind her by aiming for a world indoor record at the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships.

Yelena Isinbayeva missed the opportunity to defend her title at the 2010 European Championships and she was succeeded by her compatriot Svetlana Feofanova, while Fabiana Murer went on to claim the inaugural Diamond League pole vault series.

Yelena Isinbayeva continued to train with Vitaliy Petrov during her time out although did not appear in competition until the start of the 2011 indoor season.

In March 2011, Yelena Isinbayeva left her coach Vitaly Petrov and returned to her former mentor Yevgeny Trofimov, who had coached her since the age of 15 and until 2005.

Yelena Isinbayeva considered the bronze medal a success but mentioned that she would like to retire as acting Olympic champion.

In December 2016, Yelena Isinbayeva became the chair of the supervisory board of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency.

Yelena Isinbayeva's father, Gadzhi Gadzhiyevich Isinbayev, is a Tabasaran plumber while her mother, a shop assistant, is Russian.

Yelena Isinbayeva came from humble beginnings and remembers that her parents had to make many financial sacrifices in her early career.

Yelena Isinbayeva has both a Bachelor's and Master's Degree after graduating from the Volgograd State Academy of Physical Culture.

Yelena Isinbayeva appears in a Lady's Speed Stick advertisement in Russia.

Yelena Isinbayeva is a member of the 'Champions for Peace' club, a group of 54 famous elite athletes committed to serving peace in the world through sport, created by Peace and Sport, a Monaco-based international organization.

On 15 August 2013, Yelena Isinbayeva courted controversy by condemning homosexuality, criticizing athletes for supporting LGBT rights and coming out in favour of a law banning "homosexual propaganda that targets children" in Russia which had drawn sharp criticism from some representatives of the international community and had led activists to call for a boycott of the 2014 Winter Olympics in the Russian resort of Sochi, calling foreign athletes to "respect Russian traditions".

Yelena Isinbayeva later released a statement through the IAAF, athletics' world governing body, saying that she was "misunderstood" due to poor English.

Yelena Isinbayeva has one child, Eva, born 28 June 2014.

Yelena Isinbayeva has set 17 world records and 13 indoor world records.