Olympic Babe, Yelena Isinbayeva, Shows Jenn Stuczynski at Olympic Pole Vault

Russia’s Yelena Isinbayeva set a new world record of 5.05m or just over sixteen and a half feet, after winning gold in the women’s pole vault at the Beijing Olympics. The Silver went to Jenn Stuczynski, 26, the American who brazenly challenged her but fell short at 4.80m. Russian pole vaulting superstar Yelena Isinbayeva couldn’t resist a few digs at her trash-talking US rival Jenn Stuczynski after enthralling 91,000 fans with the first world record in the Bird’s Nest Stadium.

Before the event, Stuczynski had stoked the fires by saying: “I hope we go over there and do some damage, kick some Russian butt. I hope that fires them up because we are pretty fired up over here.”

It was not the wisest tactic as Isinbayeva, the undisputed queen of the sport, became motivated by ‘kicking some butt’ of her own.

And after beating her own world record, the 26-year-old Russian girl, said: “I’m not deaf, I can hear the words she’s saying,” Isinbayeva said Monday night. “How is it possible to speak like this about me? I said, ‘I’m not going to say anything, I’m just going to prove who is better at the Olympic Games. “She must respect me. Now she knows my position. Now she knows it.”

Isinbayeva also said, “I love to be alone at the top. It is so cool. I just tried to prove it to myself.”

Isinbayeva continued to jump after winning the title at 4.85 meters, first setting an Olympic record of 4.95 before breaking her own mark with a vault of 5.05. It was world record No. 24 for her.

Yelena Isinbayeva was born in a modest environment and remembers that her parents had to make many financial sacrifices in her early career. Her father, Gadzhi Gadzhiyevich Isinbayev, is a plumber and a member of a small (70,000-people strong) ethnic group of Tabasarans who mostly live in Dagestan. Her mother, a shop assistant, is an ethnic Russian. Isinbayeva also has a sister named Inna.