Bubka regrets not winning more Olympic medals

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Bubka heaps praise on Qatar’s rapid progress
Web posted at: 9/1/2007 2:38:30
Source ::: The Peninsula/ By C Aprameya

Sergey Bubka (second left) and Dahlan Al Hamad (right) watch the World Championships action at the Nagai Stadium.
Osaka, Japan •Sergey Bubka’s name holds a special place in the world of athletics. The Ukrainian was the undisputed king of pole vault and is regarded as the best in his sport.

The 43-year-old, who competed in Doha 20 years ago, heaped praise on Qatar for the rapid progress made in the world of sports.

He is now a Vice President of International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) along with Dahlan Al Hamad, President of Qatar Association of Athletics Federation (QAAF). He also admired Dahlan and said he was looking forward to working with him.

Bubka’s World record of 6.14m set in 1994 is yet to be broken. He also holds the distinction of breaching the world mark a whopping 35 times (17 outdoor and 18 indoor). He was also the first to scale the 6.10m barrier.

He won the World Championships title for six consecutive years (1983 to 1997). However, he could capture only one Olympic gold (1988 Seoul). He missed out on the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics when USSR boycotted the Games.

In this exclusive interview with The Peninsula, Bubka talks about his career, role as an IAAF Vice President among other issues.

Excerpts:

Q: You have been recently elected as one of the Vice Presidents of IAAF. How do you see yourself in this role?

Bubka: Athletics has been the number one Olympic sport. But as we all know, there are a lot of changes happening around us and our sport too is changing.

The competition between different sports and international federations standards are at a higher level now. And in this scenario we need to look forward. So we need to keep abreast with things by modernising athletics.

We should try and improve athletics to maintain this sport at the top.

For this, our President Lamine Diack has started the World Athletic Plan which looks at what needs to be done.

In this we are looking at various issues including how to improve our World Athletics Series.

For example, we discussed about scheduling of events in the morning and evening sessions at the World Championships.

The duration of each session was also looked into and having only semi-finals and finals in the evening to get spectators to the stadium. We have to also use modern technology where in we get live times during long distance races.

Like Formula One races we know what is happening after each lap with regard to timing of each team and in our sport too we need to track the progress of each athlete after every lap.

All these ideas will be thought about and implemented in the near future. We also have athletics programme for school kids. It is very important to start at the grass root level.

This is not new but we now need to work closely with all the National Federations, Ministries of Sports to get more and more children to athletics.

Q: Dahlan Al Hamad, President of Qatar Association of Athletics Federation (QAAF) is also a Vice President along with you, Sebastian Coe and Robert Hersh. How has been your association with the QAAF President?

Bubka: We are good friends. Dahlan is a good, wise man. We have known each other for a very long time. I am very pleased to work with him. I had been working with him as an IAAF Council member since 2003 and now I look forward to continue the same as Vice Presidents. He is a knowledgeable man and knows sports very well. He has a passion for athletics. Together we would like to take the sport of athletics forward.

Q: What are the memories you have of Doha?

Bubka: It was really fantastic to visit Doha. My first visit for a competition was in 1996 and it was exciting to discover the country. And during my last visit in December, 2006 I saw a different Doha. The development of sports has been incredible.

The sports facilities were fantastic and the way they organised the Asian Games showed how Qatar has developed. It is great to know that Qatar has made rapid strides in terms of sports.

Qatar is doing an excellent job. They have invested a lot of money for sports which is good. I am impressed.

Q: The World record of 6.14m is still in your name. It has been 13 years since you set that mark. Do we see anyone breaking it in the near future?

Bubka: I hope someone breaks it. People have been asking me this question all the time. But it doesn’t depend on me to erase my record. I have been giving advice to a lot of youngsters by conducting coaching clinics and there are good prospects who can break my record. Hopefully we see that happening in the near future.

Q: Do you regret having not won more Olympic medals?

Bubka: Honestly speaking, yes. Because of the boycott of the 1984 Olympics by USSR I missed out. It would have been my first Olympics but I was not able to compete. At the time I was young and we couldn’t complain. The government decided to boycott the Games.

In my entire career I had only one Olympic medal (1988 Seoul gold) and I regret it now than before that I could not add few more. Because of some political fight between politicians, a once in a lifetime opportunity to compete in Olympics was denied to me.

Q: Which victory do you cherish the most, six World Championships medals or one Olympic gold?

Bubka: For me all are same. These medals are unique and I wouldn’t put one above the other. I am really happy to have them.