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Pole vault queen Isinbayeva to join CSKA sports club as athlete-instructor

Two-time Olympic Champion Isinbayeva, 32, announced a break in her sports career in 2013 saying she wanted to focus on family, but hinted at a possible comeback at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil
Yelena Isinbayeva EPA/ROBERT GHEMENT
Yelena Isinbayeva
© EPA/ROBERT GHEMENT

MOSCOW, February 10. /TASS/. Russia’s pole vault queen Yelena Isinbayeva will join the track and field team of the CSKA sports club as an athlete-instructor, the club’s press service reported on Tuesday.

Two-time Olympic Champion Isinbayeva, 32, announced a break in her sports career in 2013 saying she wanted to focus on family, but at the same time hinted on her possible comeback at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil.

Last year Isinbayeva, who comes from the Russian city of Volgograd, resided in Monte Carlo, and on June 28 she gave birth there to her daughter Eva.

Isinbayeva is also the three-time World Champion (2005, 2007 and 2013) and having set a total of 28 world records she is currently considered the greatest female pole vault athlete of all time.

She was the first woman ever to clear the five-meter height jump having achieved the result in 2005. Her current outdoor record of 5.06 meters, set in August of 2009 in Zurich, remains unbeaten. Her indoor world record of 5.01 meters, set in Stockholm in February of 2012, remained undefeated for over a year, when in March of 2013 US pole-vaulter Jenn Suhr broke it with the 5.02 meters result to become the second female athlete to ever clear the five-meter mark.

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) named Isinbayeva the Female Athlete of the Year in 2004, 2005 and 2008. In all, she is the champion on nine major occasions, which are the champion’s titles at the Olympic, World Outdoor and Indoor, as well as European Outdoor and Indoor competitions.