Isinbaeva blasts Gay and Powell

[BruceFlorman]

Playing devil:s advokat here: What would happen if Powell or Gay responded with, Issy, contest lower heights in order to give the impression that you care about competing against your colleagues, not soaking the limelight for yourself simply because you can. We won:t duck if you don:t; you:re in it for the money, too, or you:d not come in when the competitors are nearly finished off and then take world-record attempts on your third or so effort of the evening.

Maybe I don't get what you're saying, but Isi's laying around twiddling her thumbs for the first hour of the meet doesn't strike me as "ducking", at least not in the sense that the big name sprinters practice. It may be a bit Borzakovskiy-esque, in that she spends better than half the competition in last place (except that the strategy typically works for her), but she certainly seems willing to face anybody good enough to still be around when the bar gets to her opening height. I guess I don't see how showing up for a dozen or so competitions during the season, winning 'em all, and frequently attempting to raise the WR, can be classified as "ducking".

Now if you wanted to complain that she's asking all the other "stars" to adopt a pattern of behavior that obviously comes naturally to her, but maybe not so much for others, then I'd probably have to agree. As much as we might like to be, not everybody is able to be gregarious and charismatic. Fortunately, no one is depending on me to promote their sport.

[EPelle]

It may be a bit Borzakovskiy-esque, in that she spends better than half the competition in last place (except that the strategy typically works for her),

I like that comparison! Perhaps he should pull an "Isinbayeva" in his races.

[EPelle]

... sheer wildness!

[BruceFlorman]

Obviously I was trying to be a bit of a provocateur when I started this thread with the title I gave it. The little quote in the original short article clearly wasn’t much of a “blast”. But this evening I’m translating Ms. Maryanchik’s more lengthy Isinterview™ from Monaco that was posted Wednesday on Allsport.ru – http://www.allsport.ru/index.php?id=10176 – and while it's getting late and I’m probably gonna run out of gas tonight before I get it finished and send it off, I want to post a more complete version of what Isi really said. This young vaulter rather clearly echoes what others have said here.

If anyone's interested, the full English translation is now up on the All Sport website - http://www.allsport.ru/index.php?id=10343

[Powell]

Mandated competition?

Gee, just what we need! A return to the days of the AAU and travel permits, and piss-ant administrators telling athletes when and where they will compete.

Not mandated competition per se. I'd like to see a system similar to tennis, where none of the top players voluntarily skip a Grand Slam tournament. They are not literally forced to play, but the incentive system (in terms of both money and ranking points) is built in such a way that choosing not to participate would be dumb.

[EPelle]

Isinbayeva, Gay clarify position with Sportbladet:

Gay says that he and Asafa should probably meet a bit more often, stating that he doesn:t have anything against it. He hopes that there will be more meetings in the summer.

Isinbayeva says that if one goes to see a Real Madrid-Barcelona fotboll match, you see the biggest stars meet one another - the same goes for F1. That:s why, she believes, athletes like Powell and Gay need to take responsibility and dare to meet each other at the meets -- not just in the World Champs.
http://www.aftonbladet.se/sportbladet/f ... 1523925.ab