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Saturday, April 10, 2010

Isinbayeva takes a break from competitions

From the IAAF:
Russia’s Yelena Isinbayeva, the Olympic champion and World record holder in the women’s Pole Vault has announced that she will take an indefinite break from competitions.

..."At this moment I cannot exactly say when I will return to competitions. I have not completely ruled out the entire summer circuit or the European Championships in Barcelona.”
This is strange. Not as strange as the Tiger Woods story when it first broke, but there's got to be something more than "I'm tired" going on here. More when I know it.

1 comment:

pjm said...

Isi certainly looks like she has a case of the yips. Last year's WR after Berlin let her believe Berlin was a fluke, but after Doha she has to really learn something.

Gossip suggests that she doesn't have (m)any friends in Monaco and may be more than a little burnt out. She may need to get back home for a while and spend some time with her family. She may need a sports psychologist.

I would speculate that her press release is keyed on physical fatigue because it's still more socially acceptable in Russia (or China, where her sponsors are) to be tired than to be a head case.