Sergey Bubka biography
Sergey Bubka, Ukrainian Serhiy Bubka, (born December 14,1963, Voroshilovgrad, Ukraine, U.S.S.R. [now Luhansk, Ukraine]), Ukrainian athlete, the primary pole-vaulter to clear 6.1 metres (20 toes).
Bubka started pole-vaulting at age 9. When his coach, Vitaly Petrov, was transferred to Donetsk, Ukraine, Bubka, at age 15, adopted. Bubka gained the pole vault on the 1983 world track-and-field championships in Helsinki, Finland, with a vault of 5.7 metres (18 toes 8.25 inches). In subsequent years, Bubka modified the requirements of pole-vaulting, setting quite a few world data.
Bubka first cleared 6 metres (19 toes 8.25 inches), lengthy thought-about an unattainable peak, in Paris on July 13, 1985. In 1988 in Nice, France, he neared the 6.1-metre barrier with a vault of 6.06 metres (19 toes 10.5 inches), which was his second world file in 5 weeks. Bubka was unable to raised his leap on the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, however his vault of 5.9 metres (19 toes 4.25 inches) gained the gold medal. Bubka had elevated the world file by 21 cm (8.25 inches) between 1984 and 1988, a larger achieve in 4 years than different pole-vaulters had achieved within the earlier 12. During this era he was named the Soviet Union’s prime sportsman three years in a row (1984–86).
In 1991 in San Sebastián, Spain, he grew to become the primary pole-vaulter to leap 6.1 metres, however a 12 months later, on the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Bubka failed to put within the occasion. In 1994 in Sestriere, Italy, he broke his earlier world file with a soar of 6.14 metres (20 toes 1.75 inches). Bubka attended the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, however an harm prevented him from competing. In 1997, nonetheless, Bubka gained an unprecedented sixth world championship in pole vaulting. At the 2000 Games in Sydney, Bubka competed however did not qualify for the ultimate. He retired from competitors and have become an energetic member of the International Olympic Committee.
Bubka’s pace and power enabled him to make use of poles that have been unusually lengthy and stiff for higher catapulting motion. He was famous for a vaulting type through which he gripped his pole a number of inches larger than different opponents.