# Yelena Isinbaeva
**Yelena Isinbayeva** (Елена Гаджиевна Исинбаева; born 1982 in [Volgograd](https://www.edgepedia.org/volgograd), Russia) is a retired Russian pole vaulter who won consecutive Olympic gold medals in 2004 and 2008, set the current women's world record of 5.06 m in 2009, and is regarded as the greatest female pole vaulter of all time.[1](https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/88456) • [2](https://worldathletics.org/athletes/_/14297931) She cleared 5.06 m at the [Letzigrund](https://www.edgepedia.org/letzigrund) stadium in Zürich on 28 August 2009, and no woman has surpassed that height since.[3](https://worldathletics.org/records/all-time-toplists/jumps/pole-vault/outdoor/women/senior?bestResultsOnly=false&firstDay=1899-12-30&lastDay=2022-07-26&page=1®ionType=world) • [4](https://worldathletics.org/disciplines/jumps/pole-vault)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1982, Volgograd, Russia; 174 cm, 64 kg; affiliation Rostov-na-Don Army/Profsoyuzy[1](https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/88456) |
| Olympic medals | Gold 2004 and 2008, bronze 2012 (pole vault); first woman to defend the Olympic pole vault title[1](https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/88456) |
| World and European titles | Outdoor world champion 2005, 2007, 2013; world indoor champion 2004, 2006, 2008, 2012; European champion 2006[1](https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/88456) |
| World records | First of them 4.82 m, Gateshead, 13 July 2003; final one 5.06 m, Zürich, 28 August 2009[5](https://worldathletics.org/news/news/womens-world-pole-vault-record-for-isinbayeva) • [3](https://worldathletics.org/records/all-time-toplists/jumps/pole-vault/outdoor/women/senior?bestResultsOnly=false&firstDay=1899-12-30&lastDay=2022-07-26&page=1®ionType=world) |
| Five-meter barrier | Isinbayeva was the first woman to clear 5.00 m, in London on 22 July 2005; other women, including Jenn Suhr and Sandi Morris, have since cleared that height[6](https://worldathletics.org/news/news/isinbayeva-the-world-record-stats?type=news&urlSlug=isinbayeva-the-world-record-stats) • [7](https://www.fpa.es/en/princess-of-asturias-awards/laureates/2009-yelena-isinbayeva/?texto=trayectoria) • [12](https://worldathletics.org/competitions/diamond-league/news/idl-2016-brussels-morris-manyonga) |
| Major awards | IAAF World Athlete of the Year 2004, 2005, 2008; Laureus Sportswoman of the Year 2007 and 2009; Prince of Asturias Award for Sports 2009[7](https://www.fpa.es/en/princess-of-asturias-awards/laureates/2009-yelena-isinbayeva/?texto=trayectoria) |
| Later roles | IOC athletes' commission member 2016–2024; Sochi 2014 torchbearer; 2010 Youth Olympic Games flagbearer[1](https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/88456) |
## From gymnastics to the pole
Isinbayeva trained as a gymnast from early childhood and practiced the sport for about ten years. She left gymnastics at age 15 because she had grown past 170 cm and was considered too tall for competitive gymnastics. Her gymnastics coach asked whether she wanted to try pole vaulting, a sport she had never heard of, and introduced her to Yevgeny Trofimov, then the only pole vault coach in Volgograd; she was his first experience of coaching a woman.[1](https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/88456) • [8](https://www.laureus.com/news/interview-with-yelena-isinbayeva-in-monaco-edited-transcript)
Progress came quickly in a young event. Women's pole vault had only begun to develop in the 1990s and made its Olympic debut at Sydney in 2000.[4](https://worldathletics.org/disciplines/jumps/pole-vault) Six months after taking up the sport, Isinbayeva won the 1998 World Youth Games. She then won the 1999 World Youth Championships and the 2000 World Junior and 2001 European Junior Championships.[1](https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/88456) At the 2000 Olympics she competed at senior level for the first time but did not advance out of qualifying.[1](https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/88456)
## The record-breaking years
In 2002 Isinbayeva took silver at the European Championships in Munich behind her compatriot [Svetlana Feofanova](https://www.edgepedia.org/svetlana-feofanova). In 2003 she won bronze at both the European Championships and the World Championships in Paris, and on 13 July 2003 she set her first world record, clearing 4.82 m at [Gateshead](https://www.edgepedia.org/gateshead), England.[1](https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/88456) • [5](https://worldathletics.org/news/news/womens-world-pole-vault-record-for-isinbayeva) • [7](https://www.fpa.es/en/princess-of-asturias-awards/laureates/2009-yelena-isinbayeva/?texto=trayectoria)
**2004 to 2008** was the peak of her career. Between those years she won gold in almost every competition she entered: Olympic titles in Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008, world outdoor titles in 2005 and 2007, the European title in 2006, the World Cup in 2006, four IAAF World Athletics Finals (2004–2007), and the 2007 [IAAF Golden League](https://www.edgepedia.org/iaaf-golden-league). At the Athens Olympics she set a world and Olympic record of 4.91 m, and she remains the current Olympic record holder at 5.05 m from Beijing 2008.[1](https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/88456)
She raised her own world record repeatedly, often by small increments at successive meetings. [World Athletics](https://www.edgepedia.org/world-athletics) counted 20 world records, 18 senior and 2 junior, by December 2005 alone; the Prince of Asturias Award citation credits her with 28 in total, 15 outdoors and 13 indoors. The counts differ because records set indoors, at junior level, and as absolute (indoor) marks can be tallied differently.[6](https://worldathletics.org/news/news/isinbayeva-the-world-record-stats?type=news&urlSlug=isinbayeva-the-world-record-stats) • [7](https://www.fpa.es/en/princess-of-asturias-awards/laureates/2009-yelena-isinbayeva/?texto=trayectoria) In July 2005 she broke the outdoor record four times across three international meetings in under three weeks, and on 22 July 2005 in London she became the first woman in history to clear five meters; a week and a half later she raised the mark to 5.01 m while winning the world title in Helsinki.[6](https://worldathletics.org/news/news/isinbayeva-the-world-record-stats?type=news&urlSlug=isinbayeva-the-world-record-stats) • [7](https://www.fpa.es/en/princess-of-asturias-awards/laureates/2009-yelena-isinbayeva/?texto=trayectoria) Between 2003 and 2009, according to Olympedia's tally of 17 senior records, she lifted the women's world record from 4.81 m to 5.06 m.[1](https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/88456)
## Setbacks, return, and the last title
At the 2009 World Championships in Berlin Isinbayeva failed to achieve a successful vault in the final, her first major defeat in years. She responded by taking an extended break, missing the 2010 season, and returned in 2011, finishing sixth at that year's World Championships.[1](https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/88456) She said afterward that a decade of continuous winter and summer competition had left her body and mind exhausted.[8](https://www.laureus.com/news/interview-with-yelena-isinbayeva-in-monaco-edited-transcript)
The 2012 season brought a revival: she won her fourth world indoor title in Istanbul and returned to the top of the world rankings.[1](https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/88456) • [8](https://www.laureus.com/news/interview-with-yelena-isinbayeva-in-monaco-edited-transcript) At the London Olympics, however, Jenn Suhr took the gold and Isinbayeva won bronze at 4.70 m, falling short of her goal of becoming the first woman to win three consecutive Olympic gold medals in the pole vault.[9](https://as.com/masdeporte/2012/08/06/juegosolimpicos/1344286253_474697.html) • [13](https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/19179429) Her final major competition was the 2013 World Championships in Moscow, where she won her third outdoor world title at 4.89 m.[10](https://www.lequipe.fr/fiche/yelena-isinbaeva/21478)
She aimed to close her career at the 2016 Rio Olympics, but Russia's athletics federation was suspended from international competition over a state-sponsored doping program, and Isinbayeva, the country's most celebrated track athlete, was barred along with the rest of the team.[1](https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/88456) • [11](https://time.com/4391801/russia-olympic-athletic-ban/)
## Record context and legacy
Isinbayeva's 5.06 m record has stood since 2009 and she remains its official holder, a position World Athletics still lists on her profile.[2](https://worldathletics.org/athletes/_/14297931) • [3](https://worldathletics.org/records/all-time-toplists/jumps/pole-vault/outdoor/women/senior?bestResultsOnly=false&firstDay=1899-12-30&lastDay=2022-07-26&page=1®ionType=world) Her dominance shaped the event's early history: World Athletics notes that the women's world record progression was dominated by four athletes, Daniela Bártová of the Czech Republic, Emma George of Australia, Stacy Dragila of the United States, and Isinbayeva of Russia, with Isinbayeva the last of them to hold it.[4](https://worldathletics.org/disciplines/jumps/pole-vault) Off the field, she was named IAAF World Athlete of the Year in 2004, 2005, and 2008, received the Laureus World Sports Award for Sportswoman of the Year in 2007 and 2009, and won the Prince of Asturias Award for Sports in 2009.[7](https://www.fpa.es/en/princess-of-asturias-awards/laureates/2009-yelena-isinbayeva/?texto=trayectoria) In Olympic administration she served on the [International Olympic Committee](https://www.edgepedia.org/international-olympic-committee)'s athlete side from 2016 to 2024.[1](https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/88456)
## References
1. [Yelena Isinbayeva, Olympedia](https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/88456)
2. [Yelena ISINBAYEVA, Profile, World Athletics](https://worldathletics.org/athletes/_/14297931)
3. [Pole Vault, women, senior, all-time top list, World Athletics](https://worldathletics.org/records/all-time-toplists/jumps/pole-vault/outdoor/women/senior?bestResultsOnly=false&firstDay=1899-12-30&lastDay=2022-07-26&page=1®ionType=world)
4. [Pole Vault, discipline overview, World Athletics](https://worldathletics.org/disciplines/jumps/pole-vault)
5. [Women's World Pole Vault record for Isinbayeva in Gateshead, World Athletics](https://worldathletics.org/news/news/womens-world-pole-vault-record-for-isinbayeva)
6. [Isinbayeva – the World record stats, World Athletics, 17 December 2005](https://worldathletics.org/news/news/isinbayeva-the-world-record-stats?type=news&urlSlug=isinbayeva-the-world-record-stats)
7. [Yelena Isinbayeva, Prince of Asturias Award for Sports 2009, Fundación Princesa de Asturias](https://www.fpa.es/en/princess-of-asturias-awards/laureates/2009-yelena-isinbayeva/?texto=trayectoria)
8. [Interview with Yelena Isinbayeva in Monaco, Laureus, 15 April 2012](https://www.laureus.com/news/interview-with-yelena-isinbayeva-in-monaco-edited-transcript)
9. [Bronce en pértiga para Isinbayeva y oro para Suhr, AS, 6 August 2012](https://as.com/masdeporte/2012/08/06/juegosolimpicos/1344286253_474697.html)
10. [Yelena Isinbaeva, athlétisme, L'Équipe](https://www.lequipe.fr/fiche/yelena-isinbaeva/21478)
11. [Meet the Russian Athletes Whose Dreams Were Crushed By the Olympic Ban, TIME, 1 July 2016](https://time.com/4391801/russia-olympic-athletic-ban/)
12. [Morris joins five-metre club in Brussels, IAAF Diamond League, REPORTS, World Athletics](https://worldathletics.org/competitions/diamond-league/news/idl-2016-brussels-morris-manyonga)
13. [Yelena Isinbayeva promises 2016 Olympics pole vault return](https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/19179429)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Sports, games, and recreation › Individual sports and outdoor recreation › Athletics, gymnastics, and strength sports › Athletes of track and field and road running › Jumpers*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 18, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Edited: Sep 18, 2026; Oct 12, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Last review: Oct 21, 2026*
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