The best in the world and reportedly the bitterest of rivals, Svetlana Feofanova and Yelena Isinbayeva have so much in common. Both former gymnasts, both multiple record breakers. Both Russian. Between them they have broken eight World records, indoors and out, this year alone. Both said earlier in the season that it would take another one to win here.

It didn’t. But we got one anyway. After a titanic battle in which the lead switched backwards and forwards, with each of the two protagonists straining at elimination, it was Isinbayeva, the younger and taller of the two who took the second ever women’s Olympic Pole Vault record.

Her winning height was 4.85, an Olympic record by 25 centimetres. And then, three hours 20 minutes after the competition started, she cleared 4.91, one centimetre above her existing record. It is the first World record at an Olympic Games since Michael Johnson ran that incredible 9.32 200m in Atlanta.

Feofanova took the silver, with 4.75, and Poland’s Anna Rogoswka beat her teammate Monika Pyrek to the bronze, clearing 4.70, a centimetre below her Polish record.

It all sounds so straight forward. But Isinbayeva came desperately close to wininng only the bronze.

The final, held in a virtually windless stadium, was always likely to be of high quality as it included four of the ten best vaulters ever. An Olympic record was virtually guaranteed, as Stacy Dragila’s winning jump in 2000 was 4.60m, 30cm below the current World record. How quickly the event has progressed in four years.

Only five bothered with the opening height of 4.00m, and all cleared. Germany’s Silke Spiegelburg was the first to fail, at 4.20, a height which also caused problems for Spain’s Dana Cervantes and Argentina’s Alejandra Garcia. Cervantes was the first to go out, at a height 26cm below her best.

The two Russians spent most of the opening rounds lying on their backs with their feet on the seats. Occasionally, one of them would get to their feet and begin to prowl around the ‘D’ at the end of the stadium below the Olympic flame. Isinbayeva wrapped a Russian flag around her waste and had a white cap pulled low over her forehead.

Feofanova began her campaign at 4.40 and cleared easily, although she wasn’t happy, and walked back down the runway shaking her head. Isinbayeva was much happier, sailing over some half a metre clear and blowing kisses to the crowd.

The two Poles, Rogoswka and Pyrek, and Ukraine’s Anzhela Balakhonova also cleared easily, but by the time the bar moved up to 4.55 there were still 12 vaulters left in the competition (unusually, 15 had started).

Feofanova appeared happier with her second vault, and raised her arm, rather stoically, to acknowledge the crowd’s applause. Isinbayeva, the more demonstrative of the two, brought a louder roar. Again she was well clear, and already looking more impressive, more at ease.

Pyrek also looked good, although Rogoswka, who took Pyrek’s national record this year, needed three attempts to stay in the competition. Otherwise, this was the height where Olympic dreams began to run aground. Five went out.

As the bar went up to 4.65, beyond the existing Olympic record, there were only five women left in. Suddenly, things were serious and medals were on the line.

Rogoswka went first and cleared first time. The Olympic record was in her hands. Briefly. Then Iceland’s Thorey Elisdottir had a bad miss, almost landing in the pit. She failed her second too, knocking the bar with her knees as she rose. Bravely, she passed her third attempt. Her best ever is 4.60 and now she had to clear 4.70 to match her compatriot Vala Flosadottir’s bronze in Sydney.

Feofanova cleared easily, but Isinbayeva, now directly following her rival almost made a mistake and was lucky not to hit the bar on the way up. She knew it too, patting her heart in a gesture of relief as she stood up on the mat. Pyrek, who has jumped 4.67 this year, went out but her third effort was desperately close. Now there were four left, with the two Russians in poll position.

Rogowska kept the pressure on by again clearing 4.70 first time. Elisdottir’s moment came and went. She hit the bar on the way up, leaving Rogowska and the two Russians with the medals. Now it was just about the colour.

Clearing 4.70m has been easy stuff for Feofanova and Isinbayeva in recent years, but the pressure of the big event was having its effect. Feofanova, becoming more animated with each vault, cleared again, clenching her fists in celebration. Then, in the first big shock of the competition, Isinbayeva failed. She was way above the bar but had mistimed her effort and fell on it as she descended.

The initiative was now with Feofanova, so Isinbayeva passed. Clearly rattled she re-prepared herself, untying and retying her pony tail and repeatedly visiting her coach in the crowd for advice.

Rogowska, first to vault, brought the bar down with her torso. Nerves were begining to play their part now. Feofanova failed too. It was Isinbayeva’s chance to regain the upper hand. But the composure just wasn’t there and she brought the bar down with her arm.

Rogowska was closer with her second, but went out of the competition. Feofanova cleared, so Isinbayeva passed again. She hadn’t cleared a height since 4.65. Rogowska had a medal and if Isinbayeva failed at 4.80 it would be silver.

Feofanova first. She failed. Isinbayeva had one chance. She raised the pole to the sky, mumbled a few words to herself and set off. Over. She put her face in her hands, almost in tears at the relief. She had the silver at least.

Feofanova’s face was a picture. Now, all the pressure returned to her. She put the bar up to 4.85, attempting to induce another failure from her compatriot. But Isinbayeva, her poise returned, cleared with the kind of style she’s shown all season. Now Feofanova had just one left. She put the bar up again, to 4.90 – World record height.

Isinbayeva sat with a towel on her head, unable to look. But Feofanova wasn’t even close, falling under the bar. Isinbayeva leapt to her feet, smiling again. All that remained was that record. It was her fifth outdoors, eighth in total.

24 AUG 2004 General News Athens, Greece

World record for Isinbayeva

Russian rivals Yelena Isinbayeva and Svetlana Feofanova have been exchanging World records this year like two excited school girls playing the card game snap - each one slapping down new figures meet after meet to beat the other’s previous mark, as if to say, ‘You think that’s good, beat this.’

The game started in Donetsk back in February when Isinbayeva cleared 4.83, then moved here to Athens where Feofanova cleared 4.85m. Isinbayeva responded at the World Indoors in Budapest, screaming “It’s my record, it’s my record,” as she cleared 4.86 and took her compatriot’s title. And so it’s gone on, through the outdoor season, with Isinbayeva winning the final pre-Olympic hands with a high scoring pair - 4.89 in Birmingham and 4.90 in London.

All the money-making record-breaking means nothing, of course, in the face of an Olympic gold, and the two needed nothing like those heights to guarantee their places in Tuesday’s final. Both opted to expend the near minimum of effort to reach that stage, entering the competition some two hours, 45 minutes after it started at 4.40.

The automatic qualifying height was 4.45 but by the time the bar reached 4.40 there were only 14 left in. Twelve had cleared 4.40 and the two Poles Anna Rogowska and Monika Pyrek, and the Czech Pavla Hamackova had passed, hoping to guarantee their final place at the next height.

There then followed a somewhat confusing interim in which the judges and athletes appeared to be deciding whether anyone needed to jump again. After much discussion, waving of arms, gestures to coaches in the crowd and huddles around clip boards, the competition resumed.

Pyrek, who had had one fail at 4.40, negotiated the extra five centimetres easily, but Rogowska, the new Polish record holder, almost paid for her decision as she took three attempts to clear the required 4.45. For Hamackova, a former World Indoor champion, all that waiting and wondering was almost too much. She cleared too, on her second attempt and then slumped in tears down by the athletes’ seats.

So, it seems, with 15 athletes still in the competition and the prospect of it going on late into the night, the technical delegates made the sensible decision to allow that number through to the final.

All that was only a rather messy and inconclusive climax to a long night of pole vaulting but not the main drama. The real story of the round had happened minutes before the unscheduled break when reigning Olympic champion Stacy Dragila crashed out of the Olympics.

The American had adopted more circumspect tactics than her Russian rivals, entering at a relatively lowly 4.30. She failed once at that height before clearing and then moved up to 4.40. But she looked severely out of sorts and could manage only three bad failures. She missed the bar completely on her second attempt and crashed through it on her third. Shaking her head in resignation the former World record holder walked back to replace her pole, chewing gum and staring in disbelief at the ground.

“I did not make it and that pretty much sucks,” were Dragila words when exiting the Olympic stadium.

It was a bad night for Dragila’s teammate Kellie Suttle too. She came in at 4.15 and then failed at 4.30. The third Russian, Anastasiya Ivanova, will also miss the final. She was injured during her second attempt at 4.40 and didn’t resume the competition. The other notable name to miss out was Germany’s Carolin Hingst. A 4.66 jumper this year, she could only clear 4.30.