Yelena Isinbayeva clears 4.90m in London (© Getty Images)
Russia’s female World Athlete of the Year, Yelena Isinbayeva is the latest Olympic champion to confirm her place at the Norwich Union Grand Prix in Birmingham, England on 18 February 2005.
The winner of the women's Pole Vault gold medals at the Olympic Games and World Indoor Championships in 2004, setting World records on both occasions, has indicated she will target her present World record of 4.92m (3 Sep, Brussels, Belgium) when she competes in Birmingham’s National Indoor Arena at the IAAF indoor permit meeting next year.
Isinbayeva set a staggering total of eight World records in 2004 and of these three came on British soil - 4.90m, London, 30 Jul 04; 4.89m, Birmingham, 25 Jul 04; 4.87m, Gateshead, GBR, 27 June 04 - and she clearly sees the island as a ‘home from home’ for her continuing record pilgrimage.
"Everybody knows how much I enjoy competing in Britain. I always seem to break records there, or at least come very close, confirmed the 22-year-old.
"As Olympic champion there will be more attention on me this year, but hopefully I can respond to that pressure with another record in Birmingham."
