Elena Isinbaeva is an outstanding Russian athlete, Honored Master of Sports of Russia. She became an Olympic champion twice. Bronze medalist at the 2012 London Olympics. Three-time world champion, four-time world indoor champion. Elena Isinbaeva holds 28 world records. She has been repeatedly recognized as the best athlete of the year in Russia, Europe and the world.
Childhood and the beginning of a sports career
The famous track and field athlete was born on June 3, 1982 in Volgograd in the family of Gadzhi Gafanovich and Natalya Petrovna Isinbayev. Elena’s father, a Tabasaran by nationality, still works as a plumber in one of the housing departments in Volgograd. Mother (Russian by nationality) previously worked as a boiler room operator, now she is a housewife. From an early age, Elena's parents instilled in her a love of sports. Her father was involved in wrestling and boxing in his youth. Mother preferred cross-country skiing and basketball.
At the age of five, Elena began attending the gymnastics section at a sports school. The future pole vaulter successfully competed at regional and Russian competitions among girls, studied and trained at the Olympic Reserve School. At the age of 15, Elena became a master of sports in artistic gymnastics. However, she soon had to end her gymnast career due to her height for a gymnast.
Transition from the gymnasium to the pole vault sector
In 1997, Elena Isinbaeva’s biography included athletics. Her specialty was pole vaulting. Alexander Lisova, her gymnastics coach, advised the athlete to switch to this athletics discipline. Elena was taken into his group by the famous Volgograd pole vault coach Evgeniy Trofimov. Gymnastics training helped Isinbayeva quickly master a technically difficult sport.
In January 1998, Elena took second place at the Russian winter championship among girls. In the summer of the same year, she was able to win the 1st World Youth Games in Moscow, clearing the bar at a height of 4.0 meters. In 1999, Isinbayeva became the strongest at the World Youth Championships. In 2000, the young athlete won the Junior World Championships.
Isinbayeva's first performances at the Olympic Games
At the event, held in Sydney, medals in women's pole vault were awarded for the first time. Isinbayeva joined the Russian national team and got the opportunity to start at the largest competitions on the planet. The Olympic debut of the 18-year-old athlete was unsuccessful. Elena was unable to overcome the qualification standard and did not make it to the final part of the competition. However, the very fact of participating in the Olympics was important for the young jumper.
During the inter-Olympic cycle, Isinbayeva performed at major international competitions with some success. In 2002, she managed to become second at the European Championships (4.55 m). A year later, the athlete won a bronze medal at the World Championships (4.65 m). Another representative of Russia became the strongest then. At the event, held in Greece, the homeland of the ancient Olympic Games, fans were treated to a new duel between Isinbayeva and Feofanova.
The fight for gold between two Russian women in the pole vault sector became one of the most exciting events of the athletics tournament in Athens. By that time, since the beginning of the year, Feofanova had improved the world record twice, and Isinbayeva managed to do this 5 times. Elena completed her first two attempts at the Olympics unsuccessfully. She missed the bar at 4.70m and then failed to clear 4.75m.
For the remaining attempt, Isinbayeva ordered 4.80 m, and she managed to take this height. A successful jump brought Elena Olympic gold! Svetlana Feofanova completed her performances by clearing the bar at 4.75 m and winning silver. Isinbayeva, inspired by her success, cleared 4.91 m on her first attempt and set a new world record, which became her sixth in 2004.
Triumph of Elena Isinbaeva at the 2008 Olympics
Elena Isinbaeva and her record jump at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing
Our famous athlete arrived in the rank of Olympic champion and two-time winner of world championships. After her victory in Athens, Isinbayeva became one of the most popular athletes in Russia and throughout the world. Many experts and fans were confident that she would win the 2008 Olympic Games with a world record. The outstanding jumper lived up to these expectations, repeating her Athenian success.
In order to win gold in Beijing, Isinbayeva only needed two jumps. On her first attempt, she reached a height of 4.70 m, and then easily cleared the bar at 4.85 m. American Jennifer Stuchinski, who eventually became second, showed a result of 4.80 m. The Russian jumper set a new world record that day. On her third attempt, Elena cleared a height of 5.05 m. For her achievement at the 2008 Olympics, she was awarded the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, IV degree.
Is the 2012 Olympics not the last for the athlete?
In 2012, Isinbayeva took part in the Olympic Games for the fourth time. The great pole vaulter was able to win her third medal. The result of 4.70 m brought her bronze. A year later, at the World Championships held in Moscow, Elena performed more successfully. She won a gold medal! After this, Elena told reporters that she was taking a break from competitions to become a mother. Her large army of fans was glad to hear from her about possible participation in the 2016 Olympics.
Isinbayeva’s life outside the jumping sector
At the winter, the two-time Olympic champion was the mayor of the Olympic Village. In June 2014, she gave birth to a daughter, Eva. Elena's husband is track and field athlete Nikita Petinov. Isinbayeva is a major in the Russian Army, and under a contract with the Ministry of Defense she works as an athletics instructor at CSKA. The famous athlete is actively involved in social activities and participates in charity events.
Elena Isinbayeva is a two-time Olympic champion (2004 in Athens and 2008 in Beijing), winner of a bronze medal at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Three-time world champion outdoors and four-time world champion indoors, European champion both outdoors and indoors. Holder of 28 world records in women's pole vault. Honored Master of Sports of Russia, Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences and mother of a charming girl, Eva.
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Biography of Elena Isinbaeva
Elena Gadzhievna Isinbaeva was born on June 3, 1982 in Volgograd. The father of the future athlete, Gadzhi Gafanovich, is from Dagestan and works as a plumber in one of the housing departments in Volgograd. Mother Natalya Petrovna is a native Russian, she worked in a boiler room, and later became a housewife.
Lena and her sister Inessa were sent to sports by their parents in early childhood. The future star began her career with artistic gymnastics. At the sports school in Volgograd, where she studied, a photograph of little Lenochka still hangs on the honor board. But when the girl turned 15, it became clear that she would not become a gymnast: she was too tall for this sport. And Lena went to athletics. And just over a year later, in 1999, at the World Youth Games in Moscow, Isinbayeva won her first victory in the pole vault. Recalling this stage in her life, Elena said that then she immediately noticed how her peers changed their attitude towards her. She was never noticed: a girl from a working-class family, she lived modestly, dressed poorly, and behaved quietly. Suddenly - honor and respect. And Elena decided for herself: she will only win further! To be respected.
Elena Isinbaeva graduated from a prestigious lyceum in Volgograd, studied at the Olympic Reserve School, and then entered the Volgograd Academy of Physical Culture without competition. In October 2010, Isinbaeva defended her dissertation, becoming a candidate of pedagogical sciences.
Having won gold at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, 22-year-old Volgograd resident Lena Isinbaeva moved to live in Monaco. She attends social events and is invited to dinner by Prince Albert of Monaco. Elena relaxes in the fashionable Italian resort of Abano, becomes its face and even heads the top of the most secular athletes. After her triumph at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, Isinbaeva’s hectic social life continues, Elena appears on the covers of newspapers and magazines, and enters into multimillion-dollar contracts with major companies. According to Forbes Russia magazine in 2009, Elena was in fourth place among the highest paid Russian sports stars. Isinbayeva’s income from advertising alone was estimated at $2 million!
In 2005, Elena Isinbaeva left her coach Evgeniy Trofimov, who made her an Olympic champion. Vitaly Petrov, the coach of the titled pole vaulter Sergei Bubka, became the athlete’s new mentor. With him she won the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. But starting in 2009, the invincible pole queen began to be haunted by a series of failures. Isinbayeva fails performance after performance. And in March 2011, on Forgiveness Sunday, she came to Trofimov with a prayer for his return. “Time heals all wounds and grievances,” Evgeniy Vasilyevich said then. “When Lena arrived, I realized that she was looking for ways to get closer and was spiritually mature for this.” From that day on, Lena began training in her native Volgograd, in the arena of the Physical Education Academy.
In 2012, at the London Olympics, Elena Isinbaeva became third. Many then predicted that the champion, accustomed only to winning, would leave the big sport. But Isinbaeva’s plans did not include giving up. She took a break to become a mother, recover and re-enter the fight for Olympic gold in Rio de Janeiro, and then announce her retirement from the sport.
Personal life of Elena Isinbaeva
Elena Isinbaeva managed to establish her personal life only after 30 years. Before that, she was exclusively focused on her career, and, apart from the failed story with Artem from Donetsk, Isinbaeva had no achievements on the love front. As if putting a taboo on talking about her personal life, for almost the entire 2013 Isinbayeva said at press conferences that she planned to go on maternity leave. They didn’t really believe her, because there were no men near her. But already in December 2013, at one of the events in Volgograd, Elena Isinbaeva did not hide her rounded belly from anyone. When asked about pregnancy, she just smiled, saying, and everything is clear! Not a word about the child's father.
Journalists had to find out everything themselves. As it turned out, Elena’s lover is Volgograd track and field athlete Nikita Petinov. They met Lena, oddly enough, on the Internet. Their wedding took place in December 2014, after the birth of their daughter Eva. The baby was born on June 28, 2014 in Monaco, making Elena Isinbaeva the happiest person in the world.
With all her regalia, achievements and financial well-being, Isinbayeva manages to remain a modest, open and decent person. She created her own charitable foundation, which supports children's sports. This year, for example, a gym will be built with money from the foundation in one of the orphanages in the Volgograd region. Elena is also known for her generosity towards her loved ones. She bought a new apartment for her parents when they began to be overwhelmed by the press. A few years ago, Lena made a royal gift to her very first coach (in artistic gymnastics) - she purchased a two-room apartment in an elite house on the banks of the Volga.
In 2016, changes occurred in the biography of Elena Isinbaeva: she announced the end of her sports career. Despite this, she continued her active work: now Elena not only attends social events, but also acts as a sports functionary and philanthropist. But she is not yet in a hurry to become a professional trainer, although she is not against giving advice to the younger generation.
In the future, the pole vaulter also dreams of opening a school for aspiring athletes, but this is a matter of time. In the meantime, Isinbayeva is enjoying her personal life, in which important events have occurred over the past few years: a wedding and the birth of a daughter. Her husband provides her with maximum support and strives to help her in everything.
Growing up years and the beginning of a sports career
Elena was born in 1982 in the Volgograd region. Her sister Inessa, who later became a fitness trainer, also grew up in the family. My father is a Tabasaran by nationality and works as a plumber, and my mother, who has Russian roots, worked for several years as a worker in a boiler room. Parents sought to develop their children, so from an early age they enrolled them in the gymnastics section. However, as she grew older, the future athlete switched to pole vaulting, as she was too tall for gymnastics.
In the photo is Elena Isinbaeva. Image source website www.volganet.ru Working with coach Evgeny Trofimov, she achieved great results. In 1998, the girl won the World Youth Games, and a year later she set a personal record (4 m 10 cm), winning the World Youth Championship. Isinbayeva was trained at an engineering and technical lyceum, and then was enrolled in the Olympic reserve school. She continued her education by entering the Volgograd Academy of Physical Culture and Sports.
Participation in competitions and numerous victories
During the period from 2000 to 2003, the athlete won silver, gold and bronze medals among juniors, reaching a height of 4 m 82 cm. In 2004, the whole world learned about Elena: at the Olympics in Athens, the jumper won, becoming the owner of a gold medal. In 2006, she decided to change her coach and began to collaborate with a new mentor, Vitaly Petrov. Soon she moved to Monaco, where in 2008 she achieved a new result - a mark of 5 m 04 cm, and at the Olympic Games in Beijing she set a world record, jumping to a height of 5 m 05 cm.
In 2009, at the World Championships in Berlin, Elena was able to reach the finals, however, she did not win. In Zurich she set a world record of 5 m 06 cm, but in the spring of 2010 she performed unsuccessfully in Doha. The athlete took a break from her career, and her next participation in competitions was already of a variable nature. The two-time Olympic champion planned to compete at the 2016 Olympics, however, due to a doping scandal, the entire Russian athletics team was suspended from competition.
Personal life: marriage and birth of a daughter
Isinbayeva has always attracted fans not only with her sporting achievements, but also with her personal life, which she carefully hid from prying eyes. The slender beauty, with a height of 174 cm and a weight of 55 kg, has never been deprived of the attention of men. In 2008, it became known that her lover was DJ Artem, to whom she addressed words of love live. Then the girl glowed with happiness, having won a gold medal at the Beijing Olympic Games. The young people met in 2006 in Donetsk, where she was at a training camp. During their relationship, the lovers never started a family, and after a few years they broke up.
Having crossed her 30-year mark, Elena did not hide that she dreams of getting married and having children. In 2014, everyone was discussing the athlete’s upcoming motherhood, trying to find out who the father of the unborn child was. Her lover turned out to be a two-meter handsome man - Nikita Petinov. The 23-year-old javelin thrower is Isinbayeva’s fellow countryman, but she began communicating with him on the Internet because she was training in Monaco at the time. When the girl returned home, Nikita began intensively courting her. The athlete’s parents were happy with the choice of their daughter, who gave birth to a daughter, Eva, in 2014. She did not want her husband to be present at the birth, so the future father stood outside the door. After the baby was born, he helped Elena and let her sleep well.
Now the baby only makes Isinbayeva happy. In the future, the girl will become as tall and physically tough as her parents. Athletes are already thinking about where to send Eva, but most likely, she will first engage in artistic gymnastics and then master tennis. Elena fears that the girl will be constantly compared to her, so the athlete does not want her to follow in her footsteps. The former pole vaulter and her husband do not exclude the possibility that they will become parents more than once. Her sister married a circus performer, Mikhail Golev. Their family already has two children, whom Inessa gave birth to in the Volgograd maternity hospital.
Elena Isinbaeva is a Russian athlete, a legendary pole vaulter. Having chosen this sport at the age of 15, the girl had no idea that it would bring her worldwide fame and recognition. Once expelled from the Olympic Reserve School for lack of prospects, Elena eventually became the author of 28 world records, a two-time winner of Olympic gold and a multiple world and European champion.
Childhood and youth
Elena Gadzhievna Isinbaeva was born on June 3, 1982 in Volgograd. The father of the future athlete, Gadzhi Gafanovich, emigrated from Dagestan and worked as a plumber, his mother Natalya Petrovna, a Russian by nationality, worked in a boiler room and later became a housewife.
The family lived modestly, although the Isinbaev couple supported Elena and her younger sister Inessa in all their endeavors. The mother raised the girls strictly and predicted a sports career for them, since as a child she herself was fond of basketball and tried to enter the Institute of Physical Education.
At the age of 5, Elena went to a sports school, where she studied rhythmic gymnastics under the guidance of the Lisovs, honored trainers of Russia. In 1989, Isinbaeva entered the engineering and technical lyceum, where she completed 10 classes. The girl studied at a special school of the Olympic Reserve and in 2000, without competition, she entered the Volgograd Academy of Physical Culture.
In 2003, Elena Isinbaeva was called up to serve in the railway troops, and after 2 years the girl received the rank of senior lieutenant, and after another 3 - captain. In 2015, the athlete received the rank of major and signed a contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense, according to which Isinbayeva will provide instructions at a military school.
Sport
In 1997, Elena Isinbaeva passed the necessary standards and became a master of sports. However, her high height (174 cm with a weight of 65 kg) prevented her from continuing her studies and career as an artistic gymnast. Lena’s coach was just watching a sports competition on TV, where pole vaulting athletes were performing, and thought that this sport would be ideal for his ward.
Isinbayeva was already dreaming of a sports career and understood that she had little chance of becoming a famous gymnast, so she agreed to the offer. Later she admits that the insight of Alexander Lisov influenced her sports biography. As a token of gratitude, at the peak of her fame, the champion will present her first mentor with a gift - the keys to a new apartment.
Changing a sport at the age of 15 is considered a risky step, but Isinbayeva had the necessary will to start training from scratch. Her mentor was the honored athletics coach Evgeny Trofimov, who for the first time in his career took the girl on bail.
Isinbayeva’s first jumps showed that she has almost all the necessary sports training and a natural predisposition for this sport. Trofimov needed only six months to turn the young athlete into a champion.
In 1998, Elena made her debut at the World Youth Games with a jump of 4 meters; in 1999, the girl again participated in the games and won her first gold medal with a result of 4.10 m, setting her first record.
In 2000, Isinbayeva again took gold at the junior games, breaking her own record by 10 cm. When the pole vault discipline was added to the Olympic Games program, Elena got the chance to participate in the most prestigious competition of the four years. However, during the qualifications the girl did not perform very well and did not make it to the finals of the games.
Over the course of 3 years, Elena Isinbaeva received many medals among juniors: in 2001, a gold medal at the European Championships and the Berlin International Festival, and in 2002, she won silver at the Munich European Championship, losing first place to another Russian woman. In 2003, Isinbayeva set a new world record of 4 m 82 cm.
Isinbaeva improved her results year after year, which increased her popularity and brought in a lot of money: for each new world record, athletes receive $50 thousand. Gradually gaining heights allowed Elena to maintain her popularity year after year.
In 2005, Isinbayeva broke the previous record by 5 cm, making a jump of 5 meters. The athlete herself already admitted that such a height was more of a training height for her, and she was ready for new records, in particular, she dreams of setting 36 world records. At the same time, Isinbayeva decided to change her coach: Vitaly Petrov, the coach of the famous pole vaulter, came to Trofimov’s place.
World record of Elena Isinbayeva at the Beijing OlympicsSince 2008, Elena moved to live in Monaco, where she set another record at the stage of the Super Grand Prix series. In August, the athlete again won a convincing victory at the Olympic Games with a jump result of 5 m 5 cm.
In 2009, Isinbayeva set two more records at the Pole Stars tournament, which was held in Donetsk, and one at the Golden League in Zurich. But the Berlin World Cup brought the sports star her first disappointing defeat; in the finals of the competition, Elena was unable to overcome any heights. In an interview, Isinbayeva said that she was upset by this defeat, and she was extremely embarrassed in front of the coach whom she had let down.
In April 2010, Elena suffered another setback; at the performances in Doha, the girl did not even manage to get a bronze medal: she was ahead of her long-time rival Svetlana Feofanova. After this event, Elena Isinbaeva decided to leave the sport for some time.
In 2010, Isinbaeva returned to Volgograd and returned to coach Trofimov. After a year-long break, the girl took part in the “Russian Winter” competition, where she won a landslide victory. The athlete’s further performances were quite varied: she either set new records or did not receive prizes at all.
It is interesting that in competitions the champion usually used three poles with different wrapping colors. For the first warm-up height, Elena chose a pink shade, for the winning height - blue, and for the third record height - golden. At performances, the athlete always appeared in a sports swimsuit with the inscription “Russia”.
In 2013, the multiple champion again stated that she planned to end her sports career after participating in the World Athletics Championships in Moscow. This decision was dictated by the decline in the athlete’s activity and the desire to take care of the family and have a child.
The last jump of Elena IsinbaevaNevertheless, Isinbayeva continued her fitness training and planned to compete at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro at the end of her career. However, 4 years of hard training eventually led to disappointment and annoyance.
At the end of 2016, Isinbayeva herself headed the supervisory board of RUSADA, the Russian agency that tests athletes for doping. But on the recommendation of WADA, six months later Elena left this position.
Personal life
Elena Isinbaeva is an open and friendly girl, but she prefers not to advertise her personal life. In 2008, at the Beijing Olympic Games, Yelena Isinbaeva said live:
“Artem, I love you very much! I really love you"
For the first time, she lifted the veil over her personal life. Artem turned out to be not a famous athlete at all, as numerous journalists had previously assumed, but a DJ. Isinbaeva and Artem met in 2006 during the athlete’s training camp in Donetsk. After some time, the couple separated.
Elena often said in interviews that she dreams of having a child. In 2014, her dream came true: Isinbaeva gave birth to a girl, Eva.
For the sake of the birth of her first child, Elena had to give up her sports career and go to Monaco due to too close attention of the Russian press. At the same time, the athlete did not officially change her citizenship, remaining a Russian according to her passport. Soon the name of the child’s father became known - javelin thrower Nikita Petinov, he became Isinbayeva’s husband at the end of 2014.
In 2017, a tragic event occurred in Elena’s life - an athlete. The champion posted a farewell photo on her page on "Instagram".
Elena Isinbaeva now
In mid-February 2018, it became known that Elena Isinbayeva was for the second time, which she reported from her Instagram page. She gave birth to her son Dobrynya in a clinic in Monaco.
Family life did not affect Elena Isinbaeva’s activity in public activities. Today she is the founder and director of a charitable foundation named after herself, which supports children involved in sports.
She organized the Elena Isinbayeva Athletics Cup, which is held annually in Volgograd. Federal competitions include running, long and high jumps, and shot put. Teenagers 14-15 years old are invited to participate in the competition.
Another area of work for the jumper’s charitable foundation is holding street sports festivals, as reported on the pages of Isinbayeva’s official website. Elena also makes efforts to open new sports grounds in Volgograd and other cities of the country and helps children who find themselves in difficult life situations. Now the foundation cooperates with global brands that provide financial support for sports endeavors.
Awards
- 2004 - gold medal at the Athens Olympics
- 2005 – gold medal at the World Championships in Helsinki
- 2006 – gold medal at the World Cup in Athens
- 2006 – gold medal at the European Championships in Gothenburg
- 2007 – gold medal at the World Championships in Osaka
- 2008 - gold medal at the Beijing Olympics
- 2012 – bronze medal at the London Olympics
- 2013 – gold medal at the World Championships in Moscow
Elena's father is Gadzhi Gadzhievich Isinbaev, a Tabasaran by nationality, a native of the village of Chuvek, Khiva region of Dagestan, and her mother, Natalya Petrovna Isinbaeva, is Russian.
For a long time, the athlete lived in Monte Carlo, Monaco. In March 2011, Isinbayeva decided to return to her native Volgograd, so that, according to her, she could spend more time with family and friends.
Sports career
When Elena was 5 years old and her younger sister Inna was 4 years old, their parents sent them to a sports school, where they practiced gymnastics. At the age of 15, Lena was expelled from the Olympic reserve school as unpromising. Then her coach Alexander Lisovoy, having seen the pole vaulter’s performance on television, showed his ward to track and field coach Evgeniy Trofimov. Six months later, in 1998, Elena Isinbaeva won the World Youth Games in Moscow. This was the first victory in the list of her subsequent world records.
Until 2004
Her first major international competition was the World Junior Championships in Annecy, when she cleared 3.90 m and finished in ninth place. In 1999, she became the world junior champion, achieving a height of 4.10 meters.
In 2000, she again became the world champion among juniors with a score of 4.20 m. In the same year, women's pole vaulting was included in the Olympic program.
In 2001, with a result of 4.40 m, Isinbayeva again became first, this time at the European Junior Championships. In the same year, Elena took part in the International Festival in Berlin (ISTAF). There, the athlete achieved a height of 4.46 m, a new world record among juniors, which only the German athlete Silke Spiegelburg could surpass in 2005, improving Isinbayeva’s achievement by 2 centimeters. At the 2002 European Championships in Munich, Elena was second with 4.55 m, losing to another Russian, Svetlana Feofanova.
Best of the day
In 2003, at the European Indoor Championships among athletes under 23 years of age, she won a gold medal with a score of 4.65 m. On July 13, 2003, at the Athletics Games in Gateshead, Elena set a new world record - 4.82 m. At the World Championships At the 2003 athletics in Paris, she rode as a favorite, but became only a bronze medalist, losing to Svetlana Feofanova and German Annika Becker.
On July 30, 2008, at the next stage of the Super Grand Prix series in Monaco, she set her next world record - 5.04 meters, which is one centimeter more than the previous record. Regarding her achievement, the athlete said:
“I live in Monaco. These were my first competitions at my home stadium, which could not help but motivate me.”
On August 18, 2008, at the Beijing Olympics, she won the gold medal in successive attempts, first setting the Olympic (4.95 m) and then the world (5.05 m) records.
On February 15, 2009, at the XX international tournament “Zepter - Pole Stars” in Donetsk, she set 2 world records indoors, first jumping 4.97 meters and then 5.00 meters (the result has not yet been officially approved).
Elena is the best athlete on the planet in 2007 and 2009 according to the Laureus World Academy of Sports Glory.
Having easily reached the final of the 2009 World Athletics Championships in Berlin, in the final itself she was unable to overcome a single height. After the competition, Isinbayeva said that constantly winning and setting record after record, she apparently lost the necessary concentration. The athlete admitted with tears in her eyes that she was ashamed in front of her coach.
On August 28, 2009, at the 5th stage of the Golden League in Zurich, she set the 27th world record (5.06 meters).
On April 10, 2010, after an unsuccessful performance at the World Indoor Championships in Doha, she decided to take an indefinite break from her career.
In April 2010, Elena was chosen as an ambassador for the Youth Olympics in Singapore.
After a pause, information appeared in the press that Elena plans to return to performances at the beginning of 2011, but this information was officially confirmed only on December 1, 2010 - on the official website of the Russian Athletics Federation there was information that Elena would take part in the “Russian Winter”.
On February 6, 2011, at the “Russian Winter” tournament, after a year-long pause in her career, Elena Isinbaeva entered the sector and, having cleared a height of 4.81 m, won the competition with the best result of the season in the world. On August 30, 2011, however, she was left without a medal at the World Athletics Championships in Daegu, South Korea.
On February 23, 2012, at the Stockholm Grand Prix, she set a new world indoor record - 5.01 m. On August 6, 2012, she won a bronze medal at the Olympic Games, reaching a height of 4.70 m.
Awards and titles
Order of Merit for the Fatherland, IV degree (August 2, 2009) - for great contribution to the development of physical culture and sports, high sporting achievements at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad 2008 in Beijing
Order of Honor (February 18, 2006) - for great contribution to the development of physical culture and sports and high sporting achievements
Prince of Asturias Award (October 2009)
Honorary citizen of Donetsk (2006)
A fountain named after her stands near the Vysota cinema in the Kuzminki district of Moscow.
On January 31, 2010, Elena Isinbaeva was recognized as the best athlete of the decade by Track&Field News magazine.
World's Best Athlete by Track & Field News in 2004 and 2005.
The best athlete of the world according to the IAAF (2004, 2005, 2008)
Best European track and field athlete in 2005 and 2008.
Education
Graduated from the Volgograd State Academy of Physical Culture
In October 2010 she became a candidate of pedagogical sciences.
During competitions, the athlete adheres to certain tactics: her first height is a warm-up, the second is a winning height and the third is a record. At Elena’s request, the pole manufacturer “Spirit” makes multi-colored wrappings on them. Isinbayeva chose pink for the initial height, blue for the winning height and golden for the record height.
On February 6, 2012, she was officially registered as a proxy of the candidate for President of the Russian Federation and the current Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
