Isinbayeva vs. Bubka

[roger/over]

On January 3rd, Becca posted an article from The Guardian newspaper, "Vaulting towards Bubka's benchmark," reporting Isinbayeva's ambition to surpass Bubka's 35 world records. I thought I remembered one of Bruce's earlier translations as making that her wanting to better his 35 "consecutive" records. It seems to me that at least Isi need have no fear of failing to better Bubka's lifetime total of number of interviews granted. I tried to find that post of Bruce's, but gave up on the sheer number of Isinbayeva topics. (Not a criticism of Bruce's contributions--they're much appreciated.)

Anyway, I had to have a look at the number of Bubka's consecutive world records. I found 17 consecutive outdoor records and 9 consecutive indoor. I think Isinbayeva currently stands at 9 consecutive outdoor records and 6 consecutive indoor. Since I can't see anyone except Isi bettering 4.91m indoors or 5.01 outdoors in the near future, her skein of consecutive records seems likely to grow at the same pace as total records.

Lastly, it occurred to me that Bubka enjoys an advantage in the count of total world records, in that his outdoor world records didn't have to be better than the world indoor record at the time, as is the case with Isinbayeva's world record count under current rules. How many world records would Sergey have held under the interpretations governing world records since 2000?

The answer, in brief, is that Bubka would lose seven World Records because they were lower than the (his) World Indoor Records at the time. Here is the combined indoor/outdoor world record progression in the relevant time period, as I have it from Gérard Dumas' "Who's Who in the Pole Vault," and how the heights would be classified under the 2000 rules change:

5.80i Billy Olson USA 1983-02-04 Toronto (WIR)
5.83 Thierry Vigneron FRA 1983-09-01 Rome (WR)
5.81i Sergey Bubka URS 1984-01-15 Vilnius WIR
5.82i Sergey Bubka URS 1984-02-01 Milano WIR
5.83i Sergey Bubka URS 1984-02-10 Inglewood WIR
5.85i Thierry Vigneron FRA 1984-03-04 Göteborg WIR
5.85 Sergey Bubka URS 1984-05-26 Bratislava WR=
5.88 Sergey Bubka URS 1984-06-02 Paris WR
5.9 Sergey Bubka URS 1984-07-13 London WR
5.91 Thierry Vigneron FRA 1984-08-31 Rome (WR)
5.94 Sergey Bubka URS 1984-08-31 Rome WR
6.00 Sergey Bubka URS 1985-07-13 Paris WR
5.86i Billy Olson USA 1985-12-28 Saskatoon (WIR)
5.87i Sergey Bubka URS 1986-01-15 Osaka WIR
5.88i Billy Olson USA 1986-01-17 Los Angeles (WIR)
5.89i Billy Olson USA 1986-01-25 Albuquerque (WIR)
5.91i Joe Dial USA 1986-02-01 Columbia (WIR)
5.92i Sergey Bubka URS 1986-02-08 Moskva WIR
5.93i Billy Olson USA 1986-02-08 East Rutherford (WIR)
5.94i Sergey Bubka URS 1986-02-21 Inglewood WIR
5.95i Sergey Bubka URS 1986-02-28 New York WIR
6.01 Sergey Bubka URS 1986-07-08 Moscow WR
5.96i Sergey Bubka URS 1987-01-15 Osaka WIR
5.97i Sergey Bubka URS 1987-03-17 Torino WIR
6.03 Sergey Bubka URS 1987-06-23 Prague WR
6.05 Sergey Bubka URS 1988-06-09 Bratislava WR
6.06 Sergey Bubka URS 1988-07-10 Nice WR
6.00i Rodion Gataullin URS 1989-01-22 Leningrad (WIR)
6.02i Rodion Gataullin URS 1989-02-04 Gomel (WIR)
6.03i Sergey Bubka URS 1989-02-11 Osaka WIR
6.05i Sergey Bubka URS 1990-03-17 Donetsk WIR
6.08i Sergey Bubka URS 1991-02-09 Volvograd WR
6.10i Sergey Bubka URS 1991-03-15 San Sabastián WR
6.11i Sergey Bubka URS 1991-03-19 Donetsk WR
6.12i Sergey Bubka URS 1991-03-23 Grenoble WR
6.07 Sergey Bubka URS 1991-05-06 Shizuoka
6.08 Sergey Bubka URS 1991-06-09 Moscow
6.09 Sergey Bubka URS 1991-07-08 Formia
6.10 Sergey Bubka URS 1991-08-05 Malmo
6.13i Sergey Bubka EUN 1992-02-21 Berlin WR
6.11 Sergey Bubka UKR 1992-06-13 Dijon
6.12 Sergey Bubka UKR 1992-08-30 Padova
6.13 Sergey Bubka UKR 1992-09-19 Tokyo WR=
6.14i Sergey Bubka UKR 1993-02-13 Liévin WR
6.15i Sergey Bubka UKR 1993-02-21 Donetsk WR
6.14 Sergey Bubka UKR 1994-07-31 Sestriere


So, if Isinbayeva wants to lessen the task of bettering the number of Bubka's world records, she might argue that they be compared fairly; i.e., under the same rules. Better yet, since Sergey is a member of the IAAF Council, she might appeal to him that the gentlemanly thing for him to do is to propose a rules amendment that would void any of his, or other, records that are not in accord with present-day interpretations. Good luck on that!

[rainbowgirl28]

Interesting!

I think Bubka's 6.15i should be counted as THE world record.

[Mecham]

I agree

[roger/over]

Rainbowgirl and Mecham write, above, that they think "Bubka's (1993 Donetsk) 6.15i should be counted as THE world record."

Under the 2000 rules, of course, it would have been THE World Record, instead of the World Indoor Record as it was and is. A less desirable consequence of the 2000 rules change is that his later 6.14 outdoors wouldn't have been deemed a record of any kind. (There is no category of World Outdoor Record although there still is one of World Indoor Record.)

As I've written before, I believe that fairness of opportunity for indoor practice and competition is good reason not to combine indoor and outdoor records in a single list. What would have been the effect on Bubka's 6.14 is another good reason.

[pole bender]

the main difference is that men have been vaulting for centuries. women 10+ years. no one has come close to bubka. issys marks will be gone once the wPV has matured.

[Powervaulter]

Men haven't quite been vaulting for "centuries". Pole vaulting as we now know it (with fiberglass poles) is less than a century old. I'm sure Roger can confirm exactly how long men have pole vaulted with fiberglass poles.

Anyway, I would argue that the women's event has really come into its own. I think that in any given year, there might only be a handful of women to clear the 5m barrier, just like the 6m barrier on the men's side. I don't think we're going to see as large a number of world records from the women as we have in the past. The major difference in the next year or so might be for more women to be in the 4.70m to 5.00m range, possibly as many as we see on the men's side at 5.70m to 6.00m.

Anyone know when Isinbayeva competes next?

[rainbowgirl28]

Anyone know when Isinbayeva competes next?

Look near the end of the Isi Updates thread in this forum.

[SweetPVJumps]

[quote="pole bender"]the main difference is that men have been vaulting for centuries. women 10+ years. no one has come close to bubka. issys marks will be gone once the wPV has matured.[/quote]

actually i kinda agree with that, bubka i think was so awesome becuase he was and still is in a class of is own. although isi has accomplished so much and has a lot going for her, i can imagine someone not far down the road taking her place. i dont see anyone being the new bubka though. but who knows thats just my two cents.