"The height limit for me": Sidorova - about jumping over 5 m, Isinbayeva's "theater", a fragile physique and a hard pole

The victory in Cheboksary of the silver medalist of the Olympic Games Anzhelika Sidorova with the best result of the season in the world became the most impressive event of the national athletics championship.

The next day after this performance, we met at the stadium.

- While I was waiting for you on the podium and watching how the male polemen were warming up, an amateurish question arose: are jumping over an elastic band or over a bar - different things?

- Of course.

Our sport is a solid psychology: as you see the bar, you immediately tune in to the jump in a completely different way.

Faster, harder, I don't know how to explain.

But it is impossible to tune in to the gum like that.

At least I can't.

- Is a five-meter height for an athlete of your level a matter of technique or psychology?

I probably wouldn't share these things.

Although not every person who jumps 4.95 m is able to go and take 5.00.

It would seem that the difference is not so great, but here, indeed, psychology comes into play.

- And what happens in the mind when the five-meter line has already been taken?

Don't you want to repeat such jumps as often as possible?

And why was it, say, not to raise the bar to this height in Cheboksary?

“We did not set ourselves such a task.

Still, five meters is the maximum height for me, which requires a certain state.

This season, I think it's generally unattainable level.

The point here is definitely not in psychology, but primarily in physics and technology.

In this regard, I am not in the best shape.

And trying to jump when you realize that you cannot do it does not make sense, as it seems to me.

- But, probably, jumps happen in training, when you yourself understand: this is it!

- I never jump so high in training.

Again, there is not only a psychological, but also a physiological moment: in training it is impossible to wind yourself up the way you wind up during major competitions.

I can't take the same poles that I use during tournaments, because they are harder, require a completely different response: you need to run faster, put more effort.

That is why the training heights are completely different.

Plus, fear.

Every time I struggle with this feeling for quite a long time at the beginning of the season, because it is psychologically not so easy to overcome this feeling, to pick up a harder pole.

But I come to the competition, and the same pole becomes just a warm-up.

- A hard pole - is it generally dangerous?

- Of course.

That is why there is a fear of not coping with it.

You begin to think that if something goes even a little wrong, you can fall, not “get” to the pit.

These thoughts are overwhelming.

Therefore, in training, there is no point in artificially forcing yourself to do all this.

Unnecessary risk.

- In relation to diving, there is a common joke that you can jump from a tower and not fall into the pool.

Fly past the pit in the pole vault - force majeure or working reality?

- It happens differently.

For me, this is definitely force majeure, I don’t remember such a thing happening to me at all.

Although I fell off the pole, it was like that.

But to fly past ... For this, the jumper must have very serious errors in technique.

Or a complete lack of focus.

- This year, it has become a fad for figure skaters to try themselves in different sports, including pole vaulting.

At what height does training usually begin?

- Everyone starts without a bar at all, without a box - just on the floor.

Then you jump on the mat.

You can’t stretch the elastic below the mat, and the mat is one meter.

I think that everything is exactly the same with skaters: first you learn to stand, then to ride, to make turns.

You go from simple to complex.

The principles are the same.

- In a conversation with Sergei Shubenkov, I quoted your colleague in the sector, world champion Svetlana Feofanova: "Everyone is an enemy in the sector."

Do you share this point of view?

“I heard a lot about it when I was growing up.

I know that Lena Isinbayeva was of the same opinion, and Sveta, but we are still from different sports eras.

Or maybe it all depends on psychology.

Personally, it’s hard for me to be in such an atmosphere, it’s hard to constantly feel someone else’s hatred.

To yourself, to others.

Maybe I artificially force myself to think that my opponents treat me without negativity, but I really feel uncomfortable thinking otherwise.

In the sector, this certainly does not help.

- At Russian competitions, you, like Isinbayeva in your time, begin to compete when most of the rivals are already finishing the tournament.

Is it comfortable to be alone in the sector or is it a double-edged sword?

Second, 100%.

When you are surrounded by rivals, whether you like it or not, you get ready, concentrate as much as possible on your own task.

We have such a sport that you don’t seem to be fighting with someone, but with the bar, but the situation still affects.

When you set a world record, it is clear that you no longer pay attention to what is happening around, but at ordinary competitions, the presence of rivals in the sector constantly reminds you that you cannot make a mistake even in the first attempt.

Later, when you have already won, you can afford to do sighting jumps or take another pole.

There is already room for error.

- An analogy from my sport immediately suggests itself: jumping from a tower in an individual tournament can be very scary.

But when you perform in sync, everything becomes much easier: attention is focused not only on your actions, but also on your partner, and fear goes away.

— Yes, it seems.

When you are left alone in a sector, it happens that you look at the bar and think: “Oh, how high it already stands.”

And when you think only that you must take this height at all costs, your thoughts begin to work in a completely different direction.

- Through the efforts of Isinbayeva, pole vaulting has turned into a theater of one actor.

I sometimes had a strong feeling that with all her behavior every second she embodies a well-directed role in the sector.

When you took over from Elena as the leader of the Russian pole vault, didn't it feel like the public was expecting something like that from you?

- To replace such an athlete is generally not easy.

It's not even that the audience is waiting for some specific interaction or some rituals.

They just keep comparing you.

They are waiting for, if not a record result, then at least the same, and when you jump lower, it seems to be not very worthy.

But I never had any special rituals or, better to say, habits.

When you get used to certain actions that you repeat over the years, it seems to me that you can become a hostage to these rituals.

Maybe at some point Lena didn’t even need to get under the covers in the sector, but it starts to seem that if you don’t do something, then the jump will not work.

- According to coach Evgeny Trofimov, Lena lost the Games in London precisely because of the blanket - she lost control over what was happening.

And by the way, I never used it again.

Although I know colleagues who specially came to the stadium to see Isinbayeva under the covers.

Yes, there was something magical about it.

- Do you dream of a world record?

“Now it’s more like no than yes.”

- At what point does the understanding come that, due to objective reasons, it is no longer possible to set unlimited goals for yourself?

- Actually, the world record always seemed to me not a very achievable thing.

Win - yes, it is clear what needs to be done for this.

And record heights are always some kind of magic.

My coach told me for years that I could jump five meters, but I didn't believe it at all.

And now ... It's not even about the physical form, although it is also about it.

Still, I’m not getting any younger, some sores constantly bother me, it’s already difficult to do the “sharp” work that we did two years ago.

On the other hand, I came to the Russian Championship, jumped 4.91, set a national record and I understand that the lot of work that was done gave a fairly natural result.

Pole vaulting is a unique sport in this regard: psychology means a lot and decides.

- During the performance in Cheboksary, you took the final height only on the third attempt.

What happens in the head at the moment when the majority of viewers have already decided for themselves that the height will not submit?

- I hope that my fans didn’t think so, because they know me well.

I managed to scroll through both scenarios in my head, starting with the worst: that I’ll break the bar now, become the champion of Russia with a score of 4.85, everyone will start saying: “Well, at least that’s it.”

And I realized that somehow I don’t want to end the performance in this way.

So, you need to take matters into your own hands.

The second attempt turned out to be more or less working for me, and the coach prompted in time what exactly needs to be corrected.

- Have you ever tried to lure more eminent mentors?

- Not.

Such attempts, probably, could have been possible in childhood, when I was a nobody, and Svetlana Alexandrovna was a nobody from the point of view of the coaching profession.

And after we brought each other to a certain level and continued to progress, it would be, you see, strange to say that Abramova somehow trains me in a wrong way.

- Two women in one bundle, especially when both are personalities and have a certain life experience - this is always not easy.

Do purely moody, emotional conflicts happen between you on this basis?

“Those are the only things that happen.

Someone’s mood didn’t work out in the morning, or there are problems at home, so you break down on the one who is nearby.

Fortunately, we are both quick to admit our own mistakes.

The main thing is that we are united by a common cause in which we must be together and help each other.

- Did you move away from the defeat at the Olympic Games in Tokyo for a long time?

- Exactly up to a five-meter jump, that is, a little more than a month.

That season was not easy at all - there was a rather strong decline.

So jumping to 5.01 really lifted me up emotionally.

- Is the Russian Championship in Cheboksary the main start or stage of preparation for you?

- I think it's the main one.

The Spartakiad seems to be more important, but it will be held in Chelyabinsk.

There, unlike Cheboksary, most likely there will not be full stands, and the stadium itself is less comfortable.

For athletes, Cheboksary is, first of all, an atmosphere that greatly contributes to showing a high result.

I think that's why many in Chelyabinsk will set themselves the task of simply winning.

- Is there some kind of lower bar below which you consider it indecent to jump in public?

- I think this bar is somewhere around 4.80.

If it turns out lower, I'm completely upset.

- And the height from which you start to compete is always standard?

- In most cases, yes.

This is 4.50-4.55.

Such a warm-up.

If you noticed, I was waiting in Cheboksary for more than an hour to enter the sector, the muscles have time to cool down during this time.

If you wait even longer, more serious problems may arise.

I start jumping on a softer pole just in order to warm up well.

Then I change the pole to a stiffer one and serious competitions begin.

- Is your fragile physique dictated by the specifics of the sport? 

- Actually, the pole requires stronger girls.

If you are completely slender, you can not hold the projectile in your hands at all.

During the run-up, there is quite a decent resistance, so the shoulder girdle must be developed very strongly.

As are the hands.

Accordingly, everyone works a lot with the barbell, constantly swinging their arms and back.

About five years ago, I was even thinner than now, and at some point my coach and I realized that I physically simply couldn’t jump higher because my arms were too weak.

I worked very hard on this.

Even when I just ran in the warm-up, I always had some kind of dumbbells in my hands.

- In sprint swimming, there is a direct dependence of the athlete's result on his height.

It is believed that a person is not able to swim faster than the length of his body per second.

Is there a similar relationship between height and height in pole vaulting?

She is very conditional.

But at one time we struggled with this stereotype for a very long time.

- It was believed that Feofanova was not capable of competing on equal terms with Isinbayeva just because of her height.

- There really were a lot of such conversations, and they told me more than once that with my height it’s not worth even trying to pole vault.

But then Renault Lavillenie appeared, who took and destroyed all the stereotypes.

- Does it motivate?

- Of course.

When you see that a person is much lower than those who compete with him in the sector, in comparison with the same Sergey Bubka looks like a reed, and jumps above all his records, you involuntarily think that it’s not about height and weight.

And, probably, in finding the jump technique that suits you.

To your strength, your speed, your temperament, finally.

Everyone jumps differently.

- By the way, you know that it was Bubka who initiated the change in the fastening of the bar in pole vaulting - making it less stable.

According to the version that I heard, Sergey thus sought to do everything possible so that his record in pole vault stood forever.

I've heard a lot about it too, although I don't know if it's true.

It is difficult to talk about other people's motives.

But when men began to come close to Bubka's records, this topic was very popular in athletics circles.

- In ordinary sports life, where there is an understandable calendar and clearly set priorities, each athlete understands why he makes certain sacrifices.

Now everything is mixed up.

Why do you keep sacrificing your life to sports?

“If we talk about this season, I don’t sacrifice anything at all.

We didn’t even go to the training camp, because we understood that it would be simply superfluous to work after the Games in the same mode, when one way or another you have to overcome yourself at every training session.

Therefore, I am glad that, working in a somewhat lighter format, we were able to transform this work into the maximum result.

“But the uncertainty about your own future has not gone away.

Doesn't this make you think about ending your career?

- Of course it does.

Even after the Games, I thought about it and mentally set some deadlines for myself.

But for now, I'm jumping.

What do you do if you suddenly have a free day?

- Trying to learn something new.

There are no special activities that would captivate me as much as training, but I am already an adult girl, so I constantly think about what I could do in life when sport ceases to occupy a dominant role in it.

Well, in general, everything is normal: family, friends, parents, a dog... This summer I became an aunt for the first time, and for me this is one of the most pleasant events.