News12 Mar 2011


Isinbayeva returns to her original coach

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Pole Vault world record holder Yelena Isinbayeva at the World Indoor Championships' press conference (© Getty Images)

The management of Yelena Isinbayeva, the reigning two-time Olympic champion and 27-time world record breaker in the women’s Pole Vault, has confirmed the news that the 28-year-old star has returned to her first coach Evgeniy Trofimov.


In an exclusive interview for the IAAF website given to Nickolai Dolgoplov, our Russian correspondent, Evgeniy Trofimov explains the events which led to Isinbayeva’s return to his tutelage.


“Yes the news is true," said Trofimov. "It all happened on (6 March 2011) Forgiveness Sunday (when Orthodox Christians traditionally forgive each other’s sins)…. At my apartment in Volgograd the phone rang. I picked- up and immediately heard the voice: ‘Evgeniy Vasilivitch. How do you do. Yelena is calling’.”


“She talked without any allusions: ‘It is necessary to meet each other’. I was all the time thinking. I saw clearly and distinctly what was going on with my former pupil. The former pain which had once boiled between us has now simmered but had still not disappeared completely. But it was the 6 March, Forgiveness Sunday.”


“Yelena was waiting for me in a little restaurant…And we had a one to one talk. The conversation was frank… the conversation was concrete.”


“She had talked the situation over with (her) coach (Vitaly) Petrov and he knew of her decision. And she would like to be coached by me again.”


“The talk was extremely good and friendly. And I promised to think it over. Believe me there were a lot of things to be weighed up carefully.”


“But on the 8 March…that is a Russian National Holiday called International Women’s Day the whole family of Yelena, her father and mother included, were sitting in my flat at the holiday table. And it turned out that a refusal was impossible… I gave my consent....”


“We have already had two practices in Volgograd. And they went well. Now at the moment Lena is in Donetsk where her poles are and they will be brought back to Volgograd soon. The distance between the two cities is not that long. She’ll bring the poles back.”


“Our first training sessions turned out to be incredible. They were, how can I explain it to you; full of tenderness and kindness, like they used to be before. And we did understand each other so well; like nothing had happened during those five years (since they parted).

"I have all Yelena’s (training) diaries with all her notes. And everything is clear for me. We should restore (prepare her for competition) calmly and steadily. And we’ll do it with Lena seriously, very seriously,” confirmed Evgeniy Trofimov.


Nickolai Dolgoplov (Rossiyskaya Gazeta) for the IAAF

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