Bubka's victories Six times on top of the world (08/17/97)

Bubka's victories Six times on top of the world

by Andrij Kudla Wynnyckyj

JERSEY CITY, N.J. - Until this weekend's world athletics championships, Ukraine's Sergey Bubka, a 33-year-old native of Luhansk and holder of 35 outdoor and indoor world records, had been the only athlete to win five consecutive world titles. He still is. But now he is also the only competitor to have won six titles in a row.

The following is a chronology of Mr. Bubka's victories at the world athletics championships.

1983, Helsinki, Finland - The first IAAF world championships marked the beginning of a glorious reign. On August 14, 1983, after a day of heavy rain and whipping winds wiped out the qualifying competition, the 19-year old from Donbas took his place among 27 men who were now slated to take part in a gruelling seven-hour final. Then an unknown member of the Soviet Union's sports juggernaut, he was the only one to clear 5.70 meters. The USSR's Konstantin Volkov took the silver (5.60) and Atanas Tarev of Bulgaria the bronze (5.60).
1987, Rome - Mr. Bubka had improved the world record seven times, from 5.85 to 6.03 meters since the previous world championships. Very few doubted he would retain his title. He did, almost effortlessly, in Rome's Olympic Stadium on September 5, 1987. The Ukrainian jumped only twice - first clearing 5.70, his winning height in 1983, then 5.85, good enough for the title. France's Thierry Vigneron was first to height at 5.80 and so was given the silver, and by equalling this mark Soviet jumper Rodion Gataullin took home the bronze.
1991, Tokyo - Wearing the mantle of Olympic champion, won in Seoul in 1988, Mr. Bubka returned to Asia to claim a third world title as the USSR teetered on the brink. He had already announced his intention to compete for Ukraine in the Barcelona Olympics in 1992. On August 29, 1991, five days after his country declared its independence, he triumphed after a thrilling battle with Istvan Bagyula of Hungary. This was Mr. Bubka's toughest competition to date and for several heart-stopping moments it appeared he might finish as low as seventh. His winning height: 5.95 meters. Mr. Bagyula took the silver, at 5.90, while Russian Maksim Tarasov made his first appearance on the podium by clearing 5.85.
1993, Stuttgart, Germany - After a frustrating Barcelona Olympics (because of Russia's clout within the International Olympic Committee, Ukraine competed as part of the "Unified Team" and Mr. Bubka had shocked the world with a no-height performance), and at the peak of his career at age 29, the vaulter was eager to bring a gold medal home to Ukraine. On August 19, 1993, he set two significant marks: he became the only athlete to have won his event in all four world championships, and his vault of 6.00 meters was the first successful attempt at that height in a major championship. The medals went to four men who were now wearing vests of newly independent nations. Grigory Yegorov of Kazakstan took the silver for a height of 5.90, while two Russians Mr. Tarasov and Igor Trandenkov were awarded bronze medals for clearing 5.80.
1995, Göteborg (Gothenburg), Sweden - Now competing only against himself, on August 9, 1995, Mr. Bubka took the fifth title with a height of 5.92, but expressed annoyance that failed to raise his world record from 6.14 (set in Sestriere, Italy, the previous year) to 6.15 in three attempts. Mr. Tarasov was the silver medalist (5.86) and Frenchman Jean Galfione, the eventual Olympic champion in Atlanta, took the bronze (5.86).
1997, Athens - An Achilles, tendon injury had forced him to pull out of the Olympics the previous year, and a December operation led him to muse publicly about possible retirement in the ensuing months. Not able even to train until April, and managing only a 5.60 in his first competitive meet on June 18, doubters of the Donetsk-based vaulter's ability to extend his string were legion. On August 10, he was wincing as he rose from the mat after each of his clearances. The reigning world champion passed on 5.91 that rivals Mr. Tarasov and Dean Starkey of the U.S. achieved, then raised himself aloft and over the bar set at 6.01, a height that only three men in history have cleared, and retained hold on the throne. "It's not my best victory at the championships," Mr. Bubka said, "but I can say it is maybe the most difficult." Mr. Tarasov, who later made a 5.96 vault for the silver medal, disagreed: "That 6.01 was one of his best jumps I have ever seen. It's amazing to see him win."

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