10 at
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Yelena
Isinbayeva
After the early
achievements of pioneers
such as Emma George
and Stacy Dragila,
Yelena Isinbayeva is
the first real star of the
women’s pole vault now
that it has matured as
an event. The highly
marketable Russian
started the decade
winning the world junior
championships in Chile
and ended it as the world
record holder and first
woman over the five
metre barrier. In fact,
such as her dominance
has become that it was
Whilst not challenging the dominance
almost as much of a
of Isinbayeva, it would be remiss not to
shock when she failed
mention the exploits of Tirunesh Dibaba
to clear a height in the
and Veronica Campbell-Brown. Dibaba
final of this year’s world
became the first woman to capture the
championships as it
5000m/10000m double at the Olympic
was when Sergey Bubka
Games when winning in Beijing, having
failed to do so at the
broken the 5000m world record earlier in
1992 Olympic Games.
the year; Campbell-Brown was one of only
Displaying tenacity, she
two woman during the decade other than
bounced back 11 days
Isinbayeva to defend an Olympic title (in
later to break her own
the 200m), running the fastest time of the
world record at the
decade (21.74 seconds) in beating Allyson
Weltklasse meet.
Felix in Beijing.
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