Stuczynski headed for epic clash with Isinbayeva

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http://www.nbcolympics.com/trackandfiel ... 52660.html

Pole positioning
American Stuczynski headed for epic clash with Russia's Isinbayeva in women's pole vault
By The Associated Press
Posted Saturday, July 19, 2008 9:26 AM ET
ROME (AP) - The story seemed to be unfolding like a Cold War cliche: Wholesome American chases destiny, topples dominant Russian in superpowered Olympic clash.

Still a relative newcomer, American Jenn Stuczynski has been inching closer to Yelena Isinbayevaand the pole vault world record she's held for three years.


And then the Russian, clearly motivated by the challenge, went higher.

The script has been rewritten. The matchup next month in Beijing is even more intriguing.

Stuczynski remains the phenom, a natural athlete who didn't even watch Isinbayeva win gold at the 2004 Olympics (she was still focused on golf and basketball). Over the past few years, she has vaulted into second place on the event's all-time list - and is emerging as a star on a U.S. team searching for fresh faces.

When Stuczynski set an American record of 16 feet, 1 3/4 inches (4.92 meters) at the U.S. Olympic trials in Oregon, Isinbayeva took note. She hadn't gone that high outdoors in a year.

Five days later and thousands of miles away at the Golden Gala meet in Rome, Isinbayeva cleared a record 16 feet, 6 inches (5.02 meters).

``It made me so angry because everyone started to say 'Isinbayeva is finished, we have a new star,''' she said after setting the new standard. ``It made me angry and I am happy for that feeling because I didn't feel it enough since my last world record.''

Isinbayeva once welcomed Stuczynski's rise, suggesting last year in a post on her official Web site's blog that a lack of strong rivals had made her complacent: ``When there is no competition, it's difficult.''

Indeed, for several years, Isinbayeva has been able to win without having to improve.

``I was surprised it took her this long,'' Stuczynski said in a phone interview of her rival's new record. ``I was sort of wondering when it would happen.''

Isinbayeva was wondering, too. Back in 2004 and 2005, it seemed every time she entered a meet she came away with a new best - five records each year to be exact. It was at the 2005 world championships that she last set an outdoor world record, going 16-5 1/4 inches (5.01 meters). Her success made her a two-time International Association of Athletics Federations athlete of the year.


Jenn Stuczynski jumps 16 1 3/4, a new American record.
With her popularity soaring, the Olympic and two-time world champion made a series of changes that she now says set her back.

She hired a new coach in 2005 (Vitaly Petrov, who once coached the great Sergei Bubka), moved to Italy and settled into a new training base south of Rome.

Isinbayeva blamed her recent lack of records on ``the problems I had before; changes in my technique, my personal life, my coach, my life generally.''

While she wouldn't go into detail, she indicated her problems were mostly psychological, to do with the pressure she feels to always set records.

Her coach has another take.

``We've changed a lot of technical things, from the pole to the take off, to the jump itself,'' Petrov said. ``It's not easy to make changes with great athletes and we needed some time for everything to come together. She had some doubts, but in the end the patience paid off.''

Isinbayeva vows that she is back on the ascent.

``Today I feel happy inside - so, so happy,'' she said. ``Today I feel like the previous Isinbayeva.''

Isinbayeva still measures herself against Bubka - not Stuczynski. She has set 22 world records - 12 outdoor and 10 indoor - and her career goal is to eclipse Bubka's mark of 35 world records.

Stuczynski, who like Isinbayeva is 26, came late to the sport and is still developing her technique.

Back in 2004, Stuczynski was just toying with the pole vault. The 6-footer was more interested in possibly earning her card to play on the LPGA tour.

She already had excelled in basketball, taking Roberts Wesleyan College to the NAIA championship game in 2003-04, averaging 24.3 points and 6.7 rebounds. She also set school records in the 100 and 400 meter hurdles, javelin and high jump.

When coach Rick Suhr saw her play in a pickup hoops game he became convinced she could be a pole vaulter.

She started training with Suhr in a pair of pushed-together Quonset huts at his home in western New York, where the wind blows cold in the winter.

Something clicked.

``It became addicting,'' Stuczynski said. ``And once I became addicted, it became my passion.''

She burst onto the scene when she won the 2005 national indoor championships. In 2006, she added the national outdoor championships and became the second-best American pole vaulter ever, behind Stacy Dragila, who won Olympic gold in 2000, the first year women contested the event.

After just two years in the sport, Stuczynski was the top-ranked American vaulter and sixth ranked in the world. By 2007, she became the first American to clear 16 feet (4.87 meters) when she conquered that height at the Reebok Grand Prix.

By now, only Isinbayeva has gone higher than Stuczynski in the history of the event.

``What she's done is pretty amazing,'' marveled Dragila, who failed to make the Olympic team at the trials.

Stuczynski says she can - and does - go higher. In practice.

``It's different when you only have three jumps, versus 15 in your backyard in practice,'' she said. ``I don't say what I jump in practice, but I think people will be surprised if I do what I'm capable of.''

Isinbayeva also started in another sport.

A product of Russia's rigid academies, she first excelled at artistic gymnastics in her hometown of Volgograd, but switched to the pole vault when she became too tall. She says the arm strength she gained from the parallel bars has helped.

In competition, Isinbayeva will smile when the cameras zoom in on her, but otherwise it's strictly business. Between jumps, she lies down and buries her head in towels. When it's her turn again, she always mutters what appear to be the same words to herself and her pole just before barreling down the runway.

Don't bother asking what the words are - Isinbayeva won't share.

``Only my coach knows,'' she says.

Outside competition, Isinbayeva embraces her role as spokeswoman for her sport, and has suggested she would like to work with the International Olympic Committee or other sports organizations after she stops competing.

That won't be until at least the 2013 worlds in Moscow, if she has her way.

For now, retirement is far from her mind.

Her jump in Rome was so clean, so high over the bar, that some have suggested she could surpass 17 feet (5.20 meters).

``How high can she go?'' Petrov, her coach, asked. ``We'll know when we know.''

Stuczynski has her own take on the Olympics.

``I hope we do some damage,'' she says, ``and, you know, kick some Russian butt.''