Viktor Chiastokov making a comeback

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http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common ... 88,00.html

pole vault star Viktor Chistiakov, who quit the sport and returned to the Ukraine last year, is back in Australia and looking to resurrect his career.

Chistiakov, fifth at the Sydney Olympics, left the sport and Australia disillusioned after his marriage to vaulter Tatiana Grigorieva broke up and he missed selection for Athens last year. He is expected to train in Adelaide with Dmitri Markov.

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http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/co ... 22,00.html

Mature Viktor in pole position
Jenny McAsey, Athletics
November 05, 2005
VIKTOR CHISTIAKOV is back in training, minus his former wife Tatiana Grigorieva and the demons that haunted him during a pole vaulting career that never reached the heights it promised.

Regrets, Chistiakov has quite a few. But, during a 16-month stay in Europe he had time to confront his problems, including a bitter separation from Grigorieva. He returned to Australia a month ago, more mature and at peace, to try to win a spot on the Commonwealth Games team.

Chistiakov came close to retiring from athletics but, after a year of contemplation, his desire to compete has been rekindled. And this time around he has vowed there will be less publicity and more pole vaulting.

"I am going to just be Viktor Chistiakov and not part of a glamour couple; I will be myself," said Chistiakov, who has moved back to Adelaide.

"The public doesn't know who Viktor Chistiakov is. I am just going to enjoy my sport and do as well as I can.

"I made a mistake before and let my private life be too much observed and too exposed. I won't do that again."

For several years after Grigorieva's silver medal in the pole vault at the 2000 Olympics, she and Chistiakov were feted as Australia's most alluring sporting couple, modelling nude and starting a fashion design business.

But the 202cm Chistiakov, who came fifth at the Sydney Olympics, had never reached his athletic potential and he struggled to deal with his wife's fame. He had all the physical and technical prowess to succeed but, by his own admission, he was "lost".

In 2004 the couple's marriage and both their sporting careers crashed. Chistiakov publicly admitted to a relationship with a Ukrainian high jumper and neither he nor Grigorieva made the Athens Olympic team in August of that year.

While Grigorieva returned to live on the Gold Coast and is now happy in a new relationship, Chistiakov retreated to his native Russia to be with family.

For more than a year, he didn't train or touch a pole vault.

"I was tired of competing and tired of injuries, I had been pole vaulting since I was 12," said Chistiakov, who was the world junior champion in 1994. "The pole vault had become like torture for me."

He travelled in Europe and took no interest in athletics.

"I was waiting for the moment when I would feel the desire and want to get back to the track," Chistiakov said. "In June I looked up some results on the internet. At first I did it once a week, then I found myself doing it once a day."

In July he was in Moscow for his mother's birthday and the moment came.

"I decided I really wanted to vault again," he said. "It was the first time in many years I really had time to think about lots of things and decide what I wanted to achieve."

He did some general fitness work then returned to Australia last month and is back in full vault training at Adelaide's Santos Stadium.

During his time out Chistiakov decided he also had other relationship problems to resolve when he came home to Australia.

For six years, Chistiakov had been estranged from Alex Parnov, the revered pole vault coach who brought him to Australia from Russia in 1996.

Parnov, who is married to Chistiakov's sister, Nadia, coached Chistiakov and Grigorieva. But the relationship fractured in 1998 after the arrival at their base in Adelaide of another vaulter, former world record holder Emma George.

When Parnov took a coaching position at the West Australian Institute of Sport in 1999 and moved to Perth with his family, George was the only vaulter to go along.

Until last month, Chistiakov had very limited contact with Parnov, Nadia and their four daughters aged from two to 15.

"When I came back to Australia I went to Perth to catch up with my family," Chistiakov said. "There were things I did many years ago that I regret and I wanted to fix. I made some bad judgments on Alex and I went there to apologise to him."

The end result is that Parnov is now giving vaulting advice to Chistiakov, though not yet officially coaching him.

"It is fantastic, I have my family back," Chistiakov said.

"Alex has been a great help. He has got over the time when we didn't have a good relationship and I made bad judgments, but he can't get over it in one day."

In Adelaide Chistiakov is training under the guidance of the South Australian Institute of Sport and one of his previous coaches, John Gormley, and preparing for his competition comeback, which will be in Perth next month.

"I think I am going to be a better vaulter than I was before," he said. "I'm very determined and I have the desire. My life is on the right path, I have huge goals and I know how to achieve them. I was lost before. I have learned to like myself again."

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Viktor's passion no longer torture
By ZAC MILBANK
08nov05
HE once considered it "torture" but now Viktor Chistiakov is using his beloved pole vault to catapult himself back into Commonwealth Games contention.

After a 15-month hiatus, a refreshed Chistiakov is back training in Adelaide, determined to qualify for the Australian team bound for Melbourne in March.

"I'm feeling great and feel like I am on the right path," Chistiakov, 30, said. "I've got a good training program in place and so far I'm training very well."

But after his last competitive meet in July 2004, Chistiakov was feeling very different about the sport which had consumed his life.

"I had been competing since 1994 on the international circuit and I wasn't performing well so I was a bit lost with myself," Chistiakov revealed. "The frustration made me feel like I wasn't enjoying myself and that it (pole vaulting) was torture."






As a result, the Russian native completely removed himself from anything relating to sport in a bid to rekindle his passion.

It took more than a year, but his decision paid off.

"I was tired of pole vaulting and had to wait for the time until I felt like training again," Chistiakov, who competed at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, said.

"I didn't even see any athletics or check the results for about 12 months.

"Then in June (this year) I started checking the results on the internet regularly and by July I decided I was ready for it."

While motivation is no longer a problem, qualification is Chistiakov's next major hurdle.

And with fellow Australians Paul Burgess (10th), Steven Hooker (12th) and Dmitri Markov (19th) all ranked inside the world's top 20 vaulters, it won't be easy.

"We're probably the strongest pole vaulting nation in the world so just being in the team would give me a good chance of doing well," Chistiakov said.

"It's great we've got so many good pole vaulters in the country as it spurs us all on to jump better."