Serhiy Bubka

This article covers the pole vaulter Serhij Bubka, for his son of the same name, the tennis player, see Serhij Bubka (tennis player)

Serhiy Bubka
Serhiy Bubka in 2013
Full name	Serhiy Nasarowytsch Bubka
nation	Soviet Union , Ukraine
birthday	4th December 1963
place of birth	Luhansk
size	183 cm
Weight	80 kg
Career
discipline	Pole vault
Best performance	6.14 m 6.15 m (hall)
status	resigned
End of career	2000
Medal table
Olympic games 1 × 0 × 0 × World championships 6 × 0 × 0 × European championships 1 × 0 × 0 × Indoor world championships 4 × 0 × 0 × European Indoor Championships 1 × 0 × 0 ×
Olympic games gold Seoul 1988 5.90 m  World championships gold Helsinki 1983 5.70 m gold Rome 1987 5.85 m gold Tokyo 1991 5.95 m gold Stuttgart 1993 6.00 m gold Gothenburg 1995 5.92 m gold Athens 1997 6.01 m  European championships gold Stuttgart 1986 5.85 m  Indoor world championships gold Paris 1985 5.85 m gold Indianapolis 1987 6.00 m gold Seville 1991 6.00 m gold Barcelona 1995 5.90 m  European Indoor Championships gold Piraeus 1985 5.70 m

Serhiy Nasarowytsch Bubka , also Sergei Bubka ( Ukrainian Сергій Назарович Бубка ;. English transcription Serhiy Bubka , Russian Сергей Назарович Бубка / Sergei Nasarowitsch Bubka / Sergey Bubka ; * 4. December 1963 in Luhansk , Ukrainian SSR , Soviet Union ) is a former soviet, then a Ukrainian pole vaulter and holds the outdoor world record with 6.14 m. Since 2005 he has been chairman of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine .

Life

The Ukrainian athlete is the most successful pole vaulter in the history of this discipline. He competed for the Soviet Union until 1991, for the Commonwealth of Independent States in 1992 and from 1993 for the Ukraine. With a height of 1.83 m, his competition weight was 80 kg.

In 1988 he became Olympic champion in Seoul . Between 1983 and 1997 he was world champion six times in a row. He set a total of 35  world records and made 43 jumps over the 6-meter mark. Since the 1980s he has continuously improved the pole vault world record and - relying on his continuous performance - usually only raised the bar one centimeter at a time. So he was able to collect the success bonus awarded by the respective organizer every time. He held the pole vault world record with 6.14 m for over 20 years and was only surpassed on February 15, 2014 by Renaud Lavillenie , who, however, set his record indoors and not outdoors like Bubka. In the ranking of the best outdoor jumps, Bubka still occupies the first nine places (as of April 16, 2020).

In the Ukrainian city of Donetsk , where he also lives, he organizes a competition every February with the best pole vaulters in the world. Since June 23, 2005 he has been chairman of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine. His son Serhij Bubka plays tennis on the ATP World Tour .

Athletic career

For the Soviet Union until 1991

Up to the 6 meter mark

Serhij Bubka was seventh at the Junior European Championships in 1981. As a still unknown athlete, he competed at the first World Championships in Helsinki in 1983 . After the qualification had been canceled due to rain, 27 jumpers started for the final on August 14, 1983. After seven and a half hours, Bubka was the only jumper to cross 5.70 m. This made Bubka the first world champion in pole vault. He was to remain the only one until 1999.

In the 1984 indoor season, Bubka increased the indoor world record three times up to 5.83 m. On May 26, 1984, Bubka set his first outdoor world record with 5.85 m in Bratislava. On July 13, he made his first jump over 5.90 m in London. Bubka also won his only championship title in the Soviet Union in 1984, but was unable to take part in the Olympic Games because of the boycott of the Soviet Union . After the games, the International Sports Festival took place in Rome on August 31st. At this sports festival, the French Thierry Vigneron set a world record with 5.91 m. He was the last pole vault world record holder who was not called Serhiy Bubka. However, Vigneron was only in possession of the world record for ten minutes, because Bubka was also in the competition and won with 5.94 m.

In the 1985 indoor season, Bubka was European Indoor Champion with 5.70 m and won the World Indoor Games with 5.85 m. Incidentally, his older brother Wassyl Bubka also took part in both events, finishing fourth at the European Championships and third at the World Games. In the 1985 outdoor season, Bubka could only set one world record, but with the jump he made track and field history. On July 13, 1985 in Paris, Serhiy Bubka was the first to cross the 6-meter mark. He had started the competition at 5.70 m and was followed by the next height of 6.00 m, which he mastered in the third attempt.

The years 1986 to 1991

Bubka used the 1986 indoor season for four indoor world records, the last 5.95 m in New York on February 28. On July 8, he improved the outdoor record in Moscow to 6.01 m. At the 1986 European Championships in Stuttgart , he won 5.85 m in front of his brother and Frenchman Philippe Collet , who jumped 5.75 m.

At the first official indoor world championships in 1987 in Indianapolis , Bubka won with 5.85 m. A week later he improved the indoor world record to 5.97 m. In the open air he increased the world record to 6.03 m in Prague. At the World Championships in Rome , he won 5.85 m ahead of Thierry Vigneron and his teammate Rodion Gataullin .

In 1988 Bubka increased the outdoor world record over 6.05 m in Bratislava, to 6.06 m in Nice. At the Olympic Games in Seoul in 1988 he won with 5.90 m before Gataullin, who crossed 5.85 m.

On February 11, 1989, Bubka succeeded in Osaka with 6.03 m, the first indoor jump over the 6-meter mark. A year later he crossed 6.05 m in Donetsk. In the 1990 outdoor season, Bubka was injured for a long time. Nevertheless, he appeared in Split at the European Championships . He was sixth with 5.70 m, while Gataullin won with 5.85 m. That result marked Bubka's first championship defeat since 1983.

Probably the most successful year in Bubka's career was 1991. In the hall, he improved the world record four times, most recently in Grenoble to 6.12 m, and for the first time the indoor world record was better than the outdoor world record. In Seville he also won the World Indoor Championships with 6.00 m . In the outdoor season he also increased the world record four times, most recently to 6.10 m in Malmö. At the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo , Bubka won his third title in a row. With 5.95 m he relegated the Hungarian István Bagyula (5.90 m) to second place. Behind them, Maxim Tarassow and Rodion Gataullin, followed the other two jumpers from the Soviet Union.

For the Commonwealth of Independent States 1992

In the hall, Bubka improved the world record to 6.13 m on February 21, 1992. Outside he jumped 6.11 m in Dijon in June. On August 7, in the final of the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona , Bubka went into the competition at 5.70 m, as is now common with him. However, it was completely unusual that he did not make a valid jump. The Olympic champion was the Russian Maxim Tarasov, with whom he stood for the last time in the team of the Commonwealth of Independent States. Three weeks after the Olympic Games, Bubka increased the world record in Padua to 6.12 m and at the end of September he jumped 6.13 m in Tokyo. For the last time, the outdoor world record was equal to the indoor world record.

For Ukraine from 1993

In early 1993, Bubka increased the indoor world record twice. On February 13th in Lievin he jumped 6.14 m, on February 21st in Donetsk he managed to jump over the indoor world record of 6.15 m, which had been valid for more than 20 years, which was only set on February 15, 2014 by the French Renaud Lavillenie was outbid by one centimeter in the same place. At the World Championships in Stuttgart , Bubka won his fourth title in a row by jumping 6.00 m. After the collapse of the Soviet Union , seven of the top nine jumpers were from the former USSR, including Wassyl Bubka in ninth place with 5.70 m. As in 1991, Serhij Bubka won the overall World Cup for athletes in 1993.

On July 31, 1994, Bubka set his last world record at the height of Sestriere with 6.14 m. As a championship jumper he continued to be successful. At the World Indoor Championships in 1995 he won with 5.90 m in front of Kazak Igor Potapovich . At the Open Air World Championships in Gothenburg in 1995 , he entered the competition once more at 5.70 m. He made the altitude on the second try. With his third jump over 5.92 m, he became world champion for the fifth time in a row. Behind him as Olympic champion in 1988 lay the Olympic champions of 1992 Maxim Tarasov and of 1996 Jean Galfione .

Serhiy Bubka did not appear at the 1996 Olympic Games due to injury. The following year he got back into the competition after a ten-month injury break and traveled with a season best of 5.70 m (and a jump over 5.80 m in a show jumping) to the 1997 World Championships in Athens . In the final he was threatened with failure at 5.91 m, but in the second attempt he made the height and took the lead. After Maxim Tarassov had jumped 5.96 m in the first attempt, Bubka was again under pressure at 6.01 m. Bubka clearly mastered this height in the first attempt and won the sixth world title in a row.

In 2000 Serhij Bubka jumped again 5.60 m in a farewell competition. After 17 outdoor and 18 indoor world records, 43 competitions with a height of over 6.00 meters and 111 competitions with a height of 5.90 meters and more, Bubka ended his career.

Worked as a politician, banker and sports official

Bubka in his role as IOC member (2020)

From 2002 to 2006, Bubka deputy in the Ukrainian parliament for the Party of Regions of Viktor Yanukovych . Since June 23, 2005, he has been Chairman of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine, succeeding Yanukovych. From 2002 to 2008 he was chairman of the IOC's athletes commission . In 2007 he was elected Vice President of the IAAF . Since 2004 he has been the president of the Kiev Rodovid Bank. Until the nationalization of the bank in July 2009 as a result of the financial crisis, he is also said to have been one of the largest shareholders. His net worth is estimated at $ 350 million. In August 2015, Bubka lost to Sebastian Coe in the election for IAAF President with 92 to 115 votes. Bubka had advertised himself with zero tolerance for doping and his efforts to make athletics more popular worldwide.

Awards

Nastassja Kinski presents the Sports for Peace Award to Serhij Bubka (2009)

• 1985: Europe's Sportsman of the Year (PAP)
• 1985, 1988, 1991: Europe's Sportsman of the Year (UEPS)
• 1985, 1997: Champions des champions mondiaux (World Sportsman of the Year in France)
• 1985: Uomini mondo (World Sportsman of the Year in Italy)
• 2001: Hero of Ukraine
• 2008: Lifetime Achievement Award of the Laureus World Sports Awards
• 2008: Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise (Class V)
• 2009: Sports for Peace Award
• 2011: Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise (IV class)
• 2012: Induction into the IAAF Hall of Fame
• 2012: Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise (3rd class)

literature

• Manfred Holzhausen: world records and world record holder. Triple jump / pole vault. Grevenbroich 2002
• Peter Matthews (Ed.): Athletics 2000. Surbiton 2000, ISBN 1-899807-07-1
• Berno Wischmann , Viktor Sergienko: How world records are made: Experience from the training of Sergej Bubka, Olympic champion and world champion in pole vault. Verlag Sport und Medien, Mainz 1991, ISBN 3-9802483-7-2

Web links

Commons : Sergei Bubka  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Official website of Sergey Bubka
• Website about Serhiy Bubka (Ukrainian)
• Sergey Bubka in the database of World Athletics (English)
• Serhij Bubka in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )
• Bubka on the website of the Ukrainian NOK (English)
• Bubka on the IOC website
• Christian Brüngger: Turbulence on the flyover. Portrait in: Tages-Anzeiger from March 7, 2014

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Renaud Lavillenie sets pole vault world record of 6.16m in Donetsk. February 15, 2014, accessed April 7, 2014 . 
2. ↑ Self-portrait at Rodovid Bank ( Memento from September 9, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
3. ↑ ^{a b} biography at liga.net (russ.)
4. ^ Lord Coe becomes chairman of the British Olympic Association. The Guardian, August 19, 2015, accessed August 19, 2015 . 
5. ↑ Ukas of the Ukrainian President Kuchma on the award of the Hero of Ukraine award (Ukrainian)