Russia's Yelena Isinbayeva rightly proclaimed herself the queen of pole vault after outshining Usain Bolt at the world championships, and then promptly announced an 18-month hiatus to have a baby with one eye on a third Olympic title
There are not many athletes who can outdo Jamaican sprint superstar Bolt, but Isinbayeva managed that in stunning fashion as she won a third world title at a packed, partisan Luzhniki Stadium late Tuesday. But Isinbayeva's performance in an utterly gripping pole vault competition buried any talk that she was a spent force
"The era of Yelena Isinbayeva is back, it never finished! I'm the pole vault queen, the crown is mine!" the animated Isinbayeva hollered after winning with a best vault of 4.89 metres. Suhr took silver from Cuban Yarilys Silva on countback at 4.82m, and the duo now know the crown will pass to another vaulter at the next worlds in Beijing in 2015
"It's a small women's break of 18 months, a nine-month pregnancy and nine months caring for the baby," the former gymnast said.
"I'm not retiring for the moment. I'm just taking a break to have a baby and then I'll try to come back for Rio, but only on condition that I'm vaulting well.
"If something goes wrong, then I'll officially retire.
Isinbayeva credited coach Evgeniy Trofimov with transforming her back to a level at which she was happy, and also praised Ukrainian former six-time world men's pole vault champion Sergey Bubka. Trofimov was the Russian's first coach but has only been back on the scene since 2010, Isinbayeva crediting him with "resurrecting" her