Grigorieva back in pole position after heart-breaking loss

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http://www.smh.com.au/news/sport/grigor ... 01637.html

Grigorieva back in pole position after heart-breaking loss

All clear: Grigorieva.
Photo: Jason Cole

A NEW romance, strong friendships and the return of her cherished medals have enabled pole vault queen Tatiana Grigorieva to clear troubled times.

But having enjoyed the best year of her career since winning silver at the Sydney Olympics, Grigorieva is non-committal about her athletics future.

"I haven't been thinking about this yet," she said when asked whether she was considering retirement. "I just want to have a good rest and get my body back together."

The Russian-born 31-year-old seemed to be in decline after 2000, missing a spot in the 2004 Athens Olympics and falling behind Australian and Commonwealth record holder Kim Howe. The break-up of her marriage to fellow pole vaulter Viktor Chistiakov coincided with her drop in form.

"There were days when I felt really miserable," she said. "The only thing I wanted to do was curl up in a corner. I just wanted to be left alone."

But Grigorieva decided to throw herself into her sport as a means of overcoming her personal problems.

"It was one of the things that kept me alive," she said this week after returning from seven months in Europe.

After finishing runner-up to Howe at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games in March, Grigorieva finished the year stronger than the 26-year-old West Australian.

In Europe she equalled her personal best of five years of 4.56m.

And then she set a new PB of 4.57m in September when she finished second to Russian world record holder Yelena Isinbayeva at a grand prix meet in Japan.

The improved form came as Grigorieva had her entire collection of sporting mementoes stolen.

Her world was shattered in July when a safe containing all her sporting prizes was taken during a break-in at her close friend Elena Gosse's business premises at Tingalpa, in Brisbane's east.

Initially, the Gosses didn't realise Grigorieva's medal collection was in the safe and it was a few days after the robbery before she was told the bad news by phone in Berlin.

But the safe was later found dumped at Wynnum on Brisbane's bay side.

Investigating police, who have charged a man over the thefts, presented her with the medals at the Athletics Australia season launch last week in Brisbane. "To be honest, I never thought I'd get them back again," she said after the handover by Detective Sergeant Tony Vlismas.

"Today was the first day that I've actually got the feel of the medals. With the medals back I feel like my life is back on track."

Grigorieva, who has a new man in her life she is reluctant to discuss publicly, is now based on the Gold Coast after moving from Adelaide.

Her closest friends such as the Gosses live in Brisbane and she credits them with helping her revive her career.

The woman with one of the highest profiles in Australian sport may have another season in Australia and aim to make the team for the next world titles in Osaka, Japan, next August.