BRAZIL: Brazil's pole vaulter Fabiana Murer steps up training ahead of the Olympic Games and says she feels more prepared to face her biggest rival and world record holder Yelena Isinbayeva

Record ID: 330786

  • Title: BRAZIL: Brazil's pole vaulter Fabiana Murer steps up training ahead of the Olympic Games and says she feels more prepared to face her biggest rival and world record holder Yelena Isinbayeva
  • Date: 6th June 2012
  • Summary: MURER GIVING SIGNED PHOTOS OF HER TO CHILDREN
  • Embargoed: 21st June 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Brazil
  • Country: Brazil
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA3COM6GNZI8GM9KMNEGGYJS7HT
  • Story Text: Pole vaulter Fabiana Murer lived in the shadow of world record holder Yelena Isinbayeva for so long that finishing second became her main goal, but now she hopes the London Olympics will give her the chance to shine and bring the gold back to Brazil.
    Indoor champion in 2010, Murer took gold at the world athletics championships in Daegu, South Korea last year but she knows Isinbayeva is still the only woman to jump over 5 metres.
    While the Russian's world record (5.06m) is 21cm better than her own personal best, Murer is confident she is getting closer to Isinbayeva and that this could be her year.
    "I think Yelena Isinbayeva is the big favourite for London, she wants this third Olympic medal and she has worldwide recognition. She is an athlete who knows how to compete and she will be very strong in this competition, so I think she is the big favourite. But I will be there trying to do my best and jump the highest I can and if it is enough to win, then great," she said, while training in Sao Paulo with her coach and husband Elson de Souza.
    Murer is friendly with her Russian rival. They shared a coach for a while and trained at the same base in Italy.
    But she admitted there was a time when Isinbayeva was so dominant she turned up at competitions thinking no higher than winning second place.
    That changed in 2010 when Murer defeated Isinbayeva to take the world indoor championship in Qatar. A year later she confirmed her position as a serious contender for Olympic gold when she won the world title in Daegu.
    Murer will not be the only one trying to unseat Isinbayeva.
    She has focused her entire training schedule on being in prime form for London, even missing out on the world indoor championship earlier this year to spend 40 days at a training camp in Portugal. An Olympic medal is her only goal for 2012.
    Murer said her good period of training has helped her gain confidence to win an Olympic medal.
    "I have gone through a very good training phase and this has helped me gain confidence to jump and seek better results. I have a few competitions ahead of me before London, so these competitions will help me prepare to get to London in a good shape and confident to get the last details right and make a high jump in the Olympic Games," she said.
    Murer, one of only four women to clear 4.85 meters outdoors, must exorcise the ghosts of her last Olympic appearance to stand any chance of a medal.
    The Brazilian went to Beijing in 2008 with a realistic chance of a medal but was caught up in controversy when organisers mislaid one of her poles.
    Vaulters use different poles for different heights and not having a particular pole for a particular height is not only inviting failure, it can also be dangerous.
    Murer lost concentration, at one point blocking the runway to prevent other competitors from jumping, then after entering the competition at 4.45m she failed to clear 4.65 and ended up teary eyed and in 10th place.
    But this year she said the Olympics will be nothing new to her.
    "I already know what I will find there, what an Olympics looks like, as well as the athletes who will be competing with me, because I have spent the past four years practically competing with the same athletes. So I know what the competition will be like and even how each athlete trains and prepares for this competition. That is why nowadays it is much easier for me," she said.
    Although Murer's mind is fully focused on the Olympic gold, she admits she has an eye on Brazil's 2016 Games.
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