Flying beauty bird, Yelena Isinbayeva

Her beautiful look of flying in pole-vault earned her the nickname “Beauty Bird”. She was born in Russia 1982 and trained as a gymnast in her hometown of Volgograd from the age of 5 to 15 but she had to leave the sport because her height is too tall to be competitive in gymnastics. She turned this misfortune to her advantage by being the best world women pole vaulter. She already learned basic strength, resilience and flexibility through gymnastics.

Nowadays, lots of people know women’s pole vault event thanks to her but it took around 16 years to be designated as an official event in World Championships in Athletics in Seville 1999 since the first Championship in 1983. In Olympic Games, women’s pole vault event became the official from Sydney Olympics 2000.

The world’s best record in women’s pole vault was 4m 75 before her appearance. But she subsequently set a new record height of 4.91m in Athens Olympics 2004. She won the gold medal in World Championships in Helsinki 2005 as a record of 5.01m.

Her best record till now is at the Weltklasse Golden League meeting by clearing 5.06m. Not only her remarkable record but also her stunning beauty helped her be athletic star.

She often appears in fashion show and other big events not only athletic field. She broke her personal record 27 times but her target is to break world records 36 times since original human bird Sergey Bubka rewrote world records 35 times.


In an interview with foreign press, she answered that Daegu gave the most impressive welcome when she visited Korea 2006. We hope that she’ll achieve better records when she comes to Daegu in Aug 2011 for World Championships.

Olympian of the century, Carl Lewis

Carl Lewis is the first athlete who won the gold medal in the men’s 100m and long jump in the inaugural IAAF World Championships in Athletics Helsinki 1983. 

He was born in Birmingham, Alabama on July 1 1961. Like other famous printers, he emerged as a promising athlete from his childhood. He achieved good records in short-distance and long jump. He was qualified for the American team for the Moscow Olympics 1980 in long jump but didn't compete due to the Olympic Boycott. So, he got bronze medal in long jump at Liberty Bell Classic in July 1980. In 1981, he became the fastest 100m sprinter in the world.  

At the first IAAF World Championships in Helsinki 1983, Lewis got gold medal in long jump with his winning leap of 8.55m and he also won the 100m as 10.07s by beating silver medalist Calvin Smith.

One year later in Los Angeles Olympics 1984, he collected his first gold medal in the 100m running 9.99s and second in long jump at a distance of 8.54m. His third one from 200m a time of 19.8s and finally, he won his fourth gold he anchored finish line a time of 37.83.

This made him the second man who won four gold medals since Jesse Owens. He frequently discussed his wish to match Jesse Owen’s achievement of winning four gold medals at a sole Olympic Games.

In Seoul Olympics 1988, Ben Johnson won in men’s 100m in 9.79s, while Lewis set a record with 9.92s. But Johnson was disqualified with positive for steroids; gold medal went to Lewis again. Lewis added one more gold medal in long jump.

He also won three gold medals in the IAAF World Championships in Tokyo 1991, two gold medals in Barcelona Olympics 1992 and gold medal at long jump in Atlanta Olympics 1996.

He was recorded as field athlete who won 10 Olympic medals including 9 gold and 10 World Championships medals. He won the Sullivan Awards as the top amateur athlete in the United States and also listed in Olympics Hall of Fame.

The fact is that he created miracle history which made by his persistent striving and people still remember him as a great legend.

Legend of triple jump, Viktor Saneyev

  If we have the legendary discus thrower, Al Oerter who won four consecutive Olympics, there’s also a legendary figure in triple jumper who won gold medal in Mexico Olympics 1968. 

  The Mexico City is located at an altitude of 2,240m, expect good records in short distance, long and high jump event due to the weak air resistance. In there, Russian jumper Viktor Saneyev won gold medal and on the same date four years later he set the world record as 17m 35cm once again in Munich Olympics 1972. And he won his third gold medal in Montreal Olympics 1976 as a record of 17m 29cm after fierce competition with American jumper James Butts. 





  Viktor Saneyev aimed his fourth gold medal in his home ground, Moscow Olympics in 1980 but he failed to achieve his four consecutive winning in Olympics. Although he couldn’t get his fourth gold medal but we are still remembering him as the beautiful legend of triple jump.

The IAAF World Championships Daegu 2011: How to enjoy field events

  Athletics events comprise competitive athletic contests based on around the activities of running, jumping and throwing at track and field in Stadium and marathon & walking in outside road. Objective of running events in track like marathon and walking is s to reach at the finish line in the first. However, field events may seem a little bit complicated due to several attempts in one athlete. In other throw and jump events except high jump and pole vault, three times of attempts were given for single athlete when over eight athletes were participated.

  Only eight athletes who earn best scores in the first three times of attempts will be allowed additional three attempts and ranking will be decided by score. If participated athletes are less than eight, all athletes will have six times of attempts.

High jump and pole vault don’t have limited attempts unlike other field events. Jumper can proceed to next heights in three times attempts but will not be able to attempt any more if jumper can’t jump bar over three consecutive attempts.

Beautiful and precise event, the High jump

The purpose of this event is jump over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without the aid of certain devices. Long and slim athletes’ jumping moment is the most beautiful scene among many athletic movements.

The high jump is sophisticated and difficult event as much as graceful. Approach skill developed continuously to various types like scissors-jump, western roll, straddle and Fosbury flop technique.

Scissors is literally to jump in front of the bar and crossing two legs like scissors. By this technique, American Jumper Sweeney jumped 1.97m in 1895.

In western roll style, jumper approach bar on a diagonal, but the inner leg is used for the take off, while the outer leg is thrust up to lead the body sideways over the bar. Cornelius Johnson used this technique and won the event at 2.03m in the Berlin Olympics 1936.

Straddle jumpers took off as in the western roll, but rotated their (belly-down) torso around the bar, obtaining the most economical clearance up to that time. Russian jumper Valeriy Brumel won gold medal as jumped over 2.28m in the Tokyo Olympics 1964.

Fosbury is the name of American jumper who invented new jumping skill. He directed himself over the bar head and shoulders first, sliding over on his back and landing in a fashion which would likely broken his neck in landing pits. He used this Fosbury flop in Mexico Olympics 1968 and won the gold medal and the technique began to spread around the world, and soon floppers were dominating international high jump competitions.

The current men’s record holder is Javier Sotomayor from Cuba with a jump of 2.45m set in 1993 and Stefka Kostadinova from Bulgaria is the women’s world record holder at 2.09m.   

The final match of high jump in World Championships in athletics will hold on Sep 1 for men’s and Sep 3 for women’s.

Familiar event to us, the Long jump

The long jump is the most familiar event to us along with 100m sprint because can be played easily with bare body and it requires more skills than power compare to any other events.

Long jump has four main components: 1. Approach run 2. Last two strides 3. Take off and Action in the air 4. Landing

1. Approach run: The important phase to get maximum controlled speed.

2. Last two strides: To prepare the body for takeoff while conserving as much as speed as possible and step

3. Take off and action in the air: To create a vertical impulse through the athlete’s centre of gravity while maintaining balance and control. There are four main styles of take off: Kick, double-arm, sprint and power sprint.

4. Landing: Must pay attention in landing to avoid falling backwards.

The final match of long jump in World Championships in athletics will take place on Aug 28 for women’s and Sep 2 for men’s respectively.

Discus flying farther when cross wind blows

The discus throw is one of ancient Olympic pentathlon (long jump, discus, javelin running and wrestling). Image of discus throwers figured in advertising for early modern Games and used for the main posters in 1920 and 1948 summer Olympics. The discus which has wood, plastic or fiberglass rim is a heavy lenticular disc with a weight of 2 kilograms and diameter of 22cm for the men’s event and a weight of 1kg and diameter of 18.1cm for the women’s event.

In order to throw farther, the competitor should spin their body rapidly by using centrifugal force. Unlike the shot put, the disc gets more air resistance due to wide surface. Therefore, the inclination of a disc itself (elevation) must be considered and strong rotation must be given to the disc.

The interesting fact in the discus throw is disc will go farther when cross wind blows. The reason why this strange phenomenon occurred is the lift force in the bottom of disc similar to the force keeps an airplane in the air. The best angle of inclination for lift force is 20 degrees.

The final match of discus in World Championships in athletics will take place on Aug 28 for women’s and Aug 30 for men’s respectively.