Sergey Bubka

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Sergey Nazarovych Bubka (Template:Langx; Serhiy Nazarovych Bubka; born 4 December 1963) is a Ukrainian former pole vaulter. He represented the Soviet Union until its dissolution in 1991. Bubka was twice named Athlete of the Year by Track & Field News,<ref name = 'track'>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and in 2012 was one of 24 athletes inducted as inaugural members of the International Association of Athletics Federations Hall of Fame.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Bubka won six consecutive IAAF World Championships, an Olympic gold medal, and broke the world record for men's pole vault 35 times.<ref name="bbc">Template:Cite news</ref> He was the first pole vaulter to clear 6.0 meters and 6.10 meters.<ref name="indoorlist">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} (Indoor)</ref><ref name="outdoorlist">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} (Outdoor)</ref>

He held the indoor world record of 6.15 meters, set on 21 February 1993 in Donetsk, Ukraine<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> for almost 21 years until France's Renaud Lavillenie cleared 6.16 meters on February 15, 2014, at the same meet in the same arena.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He held the outdoor world record at 6.14 meters between July 31, 1994,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and September 17, 2020.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Bubka is Senior Vice President of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), serving since 2007, and served as President of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine from 2005 to November 2022. He is also an Honorary Member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), having been involved since 1996. His older brother, Vasiliy Bubka, was also a medal-winning pole vaulter.

BiographyEdit

Born in Luhansk, Sergey Nazarovych Bubka was a track-and-field athlete in the 100-meter dash and the long jump, but became a world-class champion only when he turned to the pole vault. In 1983, he won the world championship in Helsinki, Finland, and the following year set his first world record, clearing 5.85m (19 ft 2 in). Until the dissolution of the USSR in late 1991, Bubka competed for Soviet teams. By 1992, he was no longer bound to the Soviet system, and signed a contract with Nike.<ref name="NYTbigshoes">Template:Cite news</ref> that rewarded each world record performance with special bonuses of $40,000.<ref name="soresoar">Template:Cite news</ref>

His son, Sergei Bubka (tennis) is a former professional tennis player.

From 2002 to 2006, Bubka was a member of the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada with the Party of Regions group and until 2014 an advisor to Viktor Yanukovych.<ref name="mtsb">Template:Cite news</ref> He was on the youth policy, physical culture, sport and tourism committee while a MVR.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Bubka has been linked to business conducted in Ukraine’s Russian-occupied territories. On 5 March 2022, Bubka professed his love for his homeland after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, and declared: "Ukraine will win".<ref name="itgdm">Template:Cite news</ref>

Sporting careerEdit

Sergey Bubka started competing on the international athletics scene in 1981 when he participated in the European Junior Championship finishing seventh. But the 1983 World Championship held in Helsinki was his actual entry point to the world athletics, where a relatively unknown Bubka snatched the gold, clearing 5.70 meters (18 feet 8 inches).Template:Citation needed The years that followed witnessed the unparalleled dominance of Bubka, with him setting new records and standards in pole vaulting.

He set his first world record of 5.85m on 26 May 1984 which he improved to 5.88m a week later, and then to 5.90m a month later. He cleared 6.00 meters (19 feet 8 inches) for the first time on 13 July 1985 in Paris.<ref name="outdoorlist" /> Bubka improved his own record over the next 10 years until he reached his career best and the then world record of 6.14 m (20 feet 1Template:Frac inches) in 1994. He vaulted on UCS Spirit poles throughout his later career.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

He became the first athlete ever to jump over 6.10 meters, in San Sebastián, Spain in 1991. Bubka increased the world record by 21 centimeters (8 inches) in the period from 1984 to 1994. He cleared 6.00 meters or better on 45 occasions.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Bubka officially retired from pole vault in 2001 during a ceremony at his Pole Vault Stars meeting in Donetsk.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Olympics curseEdit

The first Olympics after Bubka's introduction to the international athletics was held in 1984 and was boycotted by the USSR along with the majority of other Eastern Bloc countries. In 1988 Bubka competed in the Seoul Olympics and won his only Olympic gold medal clearing 5.90 meters. In 1992 he failed to clear in his first three attempts (5.70, 5.70, 5.75 meters) and was out of the Barcelona Olympics. At the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, a heel injury caused him to withdraw from the competition without any attempts. In 2000 at the Sydney Olympics, he was eliminated from the final after three unsuccessful attempts at 5.70 meters.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

IAAF World championshipsEdit

Bubka won the pole vault event in six consecutive IAAF World Championships in Athletics in the period from 1983 to 1997:

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Winning height
1983	World Championships	Helsinki	1st	Template:Height
1987	World Championships	Rome	1st	Template:Height
1991	World Championships	Tokyo	1st	Template:Height
1993	World Championships	Stuttgart	1st	Template:Height
1995	World Championships	Gothenburg	1st	Template:Height
1997	World Championships	Athens	1st	Template:Height

World record progressionEdit

Bubka broke the world record for men's pole vault 35 times during his career.<ref name="bbc" /> He broke the outdoor world record 17 times and the indoor world record 18 times. Bubka lost his outdoor world record only once in his career. After Thierry Vigneron, of France, broke his record on August 31, 1984 at the Golden Gala international track meet in Rome, Bubka subsequently reclaimed the record on his next attempt on the same runway minutes later.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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Outdoor
Height	Date	Place
Template:Height	31 July 1994	Template:Flagicon Sestriere
Template:Height	19 September 1992	Template:Flagicon Tokyo
Template:Height	30 August 1992	Template:Flagicon Padua
Template:Height	13 June 1992	Template:Flagicon Dijon
Template:Height	5 August 1991	Template:Flagicon Malmö
Template:Height	8 July 1991	Template:Flagicon Formia
Template:Height	9 June 1991	Template:Flagicon Moscow
Template:Height	6 May 1991	Template:Flagicon Shizuoka
Template:Height	10 July 1988	Template:Flagicon Nice
Template:Height	9 June 1988	Template:Flagicon Bratislava
Template:Height	23 June 1987	Template:Flagicon Prague
Template:Height	8 June 1986	Template:Flagicon Moscow
Template:Height	13 June 1985	Template:Flagicon Paris
Template:Height	31 August 1984	Template:Flagicon Rome
Template:Height	13 July 1984	Template:Flagicon London
Template:Height	2 June 1984	Template:Flagicon Paris
Template:Height	26 May 1984	Template:Flagicon Bratislava

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Indoor
Height	Date	Place
Template:Height	21 February 1993	Template:Flagicon Donetsk
Template:Height	13 February 1993	Template:Flagicon Lievin
Template:Height	22 February 1992	Template:Flagicon Berlin
Template:Height	23 March 1991	Template:Flagicon Grenoble
Template:Height	19 March 1991	Template:Flagicon Donetsk
Template:Height	15 March 1991	Template:Flagicon San Sebastián
Template:Height	9 February 1991	Template:Flagicon Volgograd
Template:Height	17 March 1990	Template:Flagicon Donetsk
Template:Height	11 February 1989	Template:Flagicon Osaka
Template:Height	17 March 1987	Template:Flagicon Turin
Template:Height	15 January 1987	Template:Flagicon Osaka
Template:Height	28 February 1986	Template:Flagicon New York City
Template:Height	21 February 1986	Template:Flagicon Inglewood
Template:Height	8 February 1986	Template:Flagicon Moscow
Template:Height	15 January 1986	Template:Flagicon Osaka
Template:Height	10 February 1984	Template:Flagicon Inglewood
Template:Height	1 February 1984	Template:Flagicon Milan
Template:Height	15 January 1984	Template:Flagicon Vilnius

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TechniqueEdit

File:РСК Олимпийский (008).jpg

Sergey Bubka statue, Donetsk

Bubka gripped the pole higher than most vaulters to get extra leverage, though Bubka himself played down the effect of grip alone.<ref name="interview">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

His development of the Petrov/Bubka technical model is also considered a key to his success.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Petrov/Bubka model allows the vaulter to continuously put energy into the pole while rising towards the bar.Template:Citation needed Most conventional models focus on creating maximum bend in the pole before leaving the ground, by planting the pole heavily in the pole vault box. The Petrov/Bubka model follows the technique used by Kjell Isaksson,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> which concentrates on driving the pole up, rather than bending it while planting it on the landing pad, combined with high running speed. While the traditional models depended on the recoil by bending the pole, the Petrov/Bubka model may exploit the recoil of the pole and exert more energy on the pole during the swinging action.Template:Citation needed