Yelena Isinbayeva: Pole-Vault, Records, & Net Worth

Yelena Isinbayeva, widely known as Beauty Bird, is a former pole vaulter and multiple record holder from Russia. 

Likewise, the Russian pole vaulter has won two Olympic gold medals and three world championships.

Similarly, she also holds the current world record in pole vaulting with 5.06 meters.

Moreover, she’s even considered the greatest pole vaulter in the history of sports.

Further, in the 2016 Rio Olympics, she got banned after revealing an extensive state-sponsored doping program in Russia.

Likewise, in 2007 and 2009, she won the jackpot at the IAAF Golden League series.

Similarly, Yelena was honored with the Female Athlete of the Year by the IAAF in 2004, 2005, and 2008.

Furthermore, she’s one of only nine athletes to win world championships at an athletic event’s youth, junior, and senior levels.

Quick Facts

Before we dig deep into Yelena’s bio, here are some of the quick facts on her:

Yelena Isinbayeva: Early life, Family, and Education

Yelena was born at Volgograd, the Soviet Union, to her father, Gadzhi Gadzhiyevich Isinbayev, and her mother, Natalia Petrovna.

Similarly, the athlete also has a younger sister named Inessa Isinbayeva.

Likewise, her father was an immigrant from Dagestan, whereas her mother worked in the boiler room in Russia.

Yelena started early as an athlete, as she trained as a gymnast from the age of 5 to 15.

Growing up in a financially low-income family, Yelena’s parents made many sacrifices for her early career.

Similarly, having a major interest in sports, she also took her education on the same level.

Yelena has both a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree from the Volgograd State Academy of Physical Culture.

Furthermore, Yelena continued her post-graduate studies and later studied at the Donetsk National Technical University. 

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Yelena Isinbayeva: Age, Height, and Weight

Yelena Isinbayeva was born on 3rd June 1982. She is 40 Years Old.

Likewise, Isinbayeva’s zodiac is a Gemini, known for being Playful and intellectually curious.

Similarly, Yelena is 1.74 m (5 ft 8+1⁄2 in) tall and weighs 65 kg (143 lb).

Yelena Isinbayeva: Career

Early Career

Yelena won her first major victory in pole vaulting at the 1998 World Youth Games in Moscow, Russia, at 16.

Also, at the 2000 World Championships, Yelena took first place, clearing 4.20 m.

Similarly, she also won a gold medal at the 2001 European Junior Championships.

However, Yelena got her first silver medal at the 2002 European Athletics Championships.

First World Records and Olympic Titles

2003 was another year of progression, as she won gold at the European Under 23 Championships.

Also, on 13 July 2003, Yelena set her first world record at a meeting in Gateshead, England, with 4.82 m height.

Similarly, she also set a new indoor world record at Donetsk, Ukraine, with a height of 4.83 m.

Likewise, the pole vaulter won a gold medal at the Worlds Indoor Championship, breaking the previous record of Feofanova with a jump of 4.86m.

Furthermore, she set a new world record at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens with a height of 4.91 m and won the gold.

Later that year, she broke her world record of 4.91 m with a height of 4.92 m at the Memorial Van Damme in Brussels.

Moreover, Yelena’s victory in the World Indoor title and Olympic earned her the title of World Athlete of the Year.

Europian and World Championship

Yelena won the gold at the European Indoor Championship, held in Madrid with a new indoor world record of 4.90 m.

Furthermore, in 2005, she broke the world record four times over three separate meetings. 

She broke the first record in Lausanne, Switzerland, with a height of 4.93 m.

It was her 14th world record coming just three months after she broke her indoor mark (4.89 m) in Lievin.

Likewise, eleven days later, Yelena added 2 cm to clear 4.95 meters in Madrid, Spain.

Then on 22 July in Crystal Palace, London, the pole vaulter raised the bar to 5.00 m.

Moreover, Yelena became the first woman to clear the once mythical five-meter barrier in pole vaulting.

Similarly, in the 2005 World Championships, she broke her record with a height of 5.01 m.

Yelena also won the competition with a margin of 41cm, which was the greatest margin in the World or Olympic competition. 

At just 23 years of age, the athlete earned her 18th world record and her second consecutive World Athlete of the Year award.

Further, she won the gold with a CR of 4.80 m during the 2006 European Athletics Championships.

Also, she won the world cup representing Russia. Moreover, Yelena got crowned Laureus World Sports Woman of the Year.

Olympic golds and Second World Cup

 In 2007, Yelena broke her 20th world indoor pole vaulting record by clearing 4.93 m.

 Likewise, Yelena won the 2007 World Championships. Although, she failed at setting a new record of 5.02 m.

Despite Yelena’s poor performance, she went on to win the IAAF Golden League Jackpot after winning all 2007 IAAF Golden League meetings.

The following year, she set her 201st world record with a jump of 4.95 meters.

Similarly, Yelena won her third consecutive World Indoor title in Valencia, Spain. 

After the 2005 World Championship, the pole vaulter broke her outdoor record with a height of 5.03 m. 

Also, at the 2008 Summer Olympics, Yelena prolonged her Olympic title reign with 5.05 m. It was her 24th world record.

Moreover, Beauty Bird was crowned World Athlete of the Year by the IAAF for the third time in her career.

Break and Comeback

In the 2009 season, Yelena set her 6th indoor pole vaulting world record and became the first woman to vault over 5 meters.

Further, she also received the Laureus World Sports Award for Sportsman of the Year.

Also, in the 2009 world championship, she underperformed and lost the competition.

However, at the Weltklasse Golden League meeting, Yelena broke her own women’s pole vault world record by clearing 5.06 m. 

The pole vaulter also received the 2009 Prince of Asturias Award for Sports.

Likewise, at the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championship, beauty bird came in fourth.

After Yelena’s loss at such a major competition, she decided to take a break from the sports.

While she was in the break, Yelena continued to train hard and with all modesty.

After Yelena’s year-long break, she finally made her comeback at the 2011 Russian Winter Meeting.

Despite her comeback, beauty bird only participated in few competitions.

Yelena won the 2011 Diamond League meeting with a season-best of 4.76 m.

Similarly, she began her 2012 season with a clearance of 4.70 m at the Governor’s Cup.

Likewise, Yelena was easily qualified for the 2012 Olympics with noteworthy performance, where she came in third.

Further, in 2016, the athlete got banned during the Russian nationals, which prevented Yelena from participating in the Rio Olympics.

However, she was later elected to serve an 8-year term on the IOC’s Athletes’ Commission, after which Yelena announced her retirement.

Following her retirement, Yelena became the chairman of the supervisory board of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency in December of 2016.

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Yelena Isinbayeva: Husband and Kids

Yelena Isinbayeva is a happily married woman. The Russian Pole vaulter is married to javelin thrower Nikita Petinov.

Likewise, the couple dated for about seven years before their marriage.

The couple got married on 7 February 2014 while Yelena was still pregnant with their daughter.

Similarly, the beautiful daughter was born on 28th June of 2014 and was named Eva.

Moreover, during her pregnancy, Yelena was one of the torchbearers for the 2014 Winter Olympics opening ceremony.

Likewise, their beautiful daughter is 8 Years Old.

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Yelena Isinbayeva: Net Worth and Career Earnings

The Russian pole vaulter has earned a lot of money through her pole vaulting career.

As of 2022, Yelena Isinbayeva has an estimated net worth of anywhere between $3 million – $5 million.

Yelena also has various endorsement deals with various brands and companies.

Similarly, she also makes money from featuring in various ads and promotions.

Moreover, the Russian pole vaulter also earns a good sum of money as the chairman of the supervisory board of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency.

Yelena Isinbayeva: Social Media Presence

As a role model and a significant figure in pole vaulting, there is no doubt that Yelena is active on social media.

Yelena Isinbayeva has a verified Instagram account with over 259k followers.

The former pole vaulter usually posts about her personal life and moments with her husbands and fellow athletes.

Also, she has over 84.7k followers in her Twitter account.

Yelena normally tweets about the current situation and condition regarding sports. 

Similarly, the Russian pole vaulter also has a Facebook page with over 330k followers.

FAQs

Here are some of the frequently asked questions about Yelena Isinbayeva:

Does Yelena still hold the world record for women pole vaulting?

Yes, Yelena still has the world record for women pole vaulting with a height of 5.06 meters.

Is Yelena Isinbayeva the greatest female pole vaulter?

Yes, Yelena is considered the greatest female pole vaulter in the sport’s history.

In addition, she holds the title with a two Olympic gold record and a three-time World Championship.  

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