SPORTS> Feature and Column
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SPORTS> Feature and Column
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Athletics - No easy ride for Russian pole vault queen Isinbayeva
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-03-18 15:43 MOSCOW, March 14 (Reuters) - She has been hailed as the queen of athletics and Russia's newest sweetheart, but life does not get any easier for Olympic pole vault champion and world record holder Yelena Isinbayeva. After adding the world indoor title to an already glittering medal collection, the 23-year-old Volgograd native was probably expecting to receive new accolades. Instead, she faced a barrage of questions from demanding local press, more interested in a possible tie-up with Chelsea billionaire owner Roman Abramovich's oil company than her sporting triumphs. To her credit, she took the media blitz in her stride. Only once Isinbayeva lost her cool when a reporter asked her if she had spoken to former coach Yevgeny Trofimov. "No questions about Trofimov," she cut the reporter off. The Russian dropped a bombshell last November, dumping her long-time mentor and hiring Vitaly Petrov, the former coach of pole vault great Sergei Bubka. Trofimov was spotted in the stands of the Olympic sports complex over the weekend openly cheering for Isinbayeva's main rival Svetlana Feofanova. The 2003 world champion and Olympic silver medallist won bronze in Moscow -- her first international competition following an 18-month absence through a back injury. ICY RELATIONSHIP Another journalist wanted to know about Isinbayeva's icy relationship with fellow Russian. The two, sitting side-by-side, hardly looked at each other during a news conference. "You see, we're not fighting with each other," Isinbayeva said sarcastically while Feofanova just smiled. "We're not friends but we don't have to be enemies either." |
