Svetlana Feofanova

[26mi235]

Re: Svetlana Feofanova

I generally do not think that Isi has great charm and charisma and that she may have lost some over time. Maybe hiding under a blanket during competitions etc. is not the most charismatic behavior. Conversely, Feofanova seems to have blossomed some.

[Deerfoot]

Re: Svetlana Feofanova

I agree that her athletics exploits are the main thrust of her fame and I don't mean to disparage her in any way. But I still think it's true that her looks and certainly her charisma add to her popular appeal. As Marlow pointed out, Isi(and some others) play to the crowd. Feofanova doesn't. This isn't good or bad in either case, it's just a difference of style. However, the first tends to attract more fans than the second. All else being equal an athlete who does the first will tend to be more popular than an athlete who does the second.
Would Bolt be quite the global celebrity he is without his personality and antics? I suspect not. And here's a test case. Bekele's athletic accomplishments are fullly comparable to Geb's. Yet Bekele is not so well known and admired outside the athletics world as Geb is. Haile didn't play to the crowd, but he does have great natural charisma.
P.S. I like Bolt and Isi, and love Geb. This is not meant as a criticism of any of them, it 's simply reality, in my opinion.

[Marlow]

Re: Svetlana Feofanova

I had to reread her story at the IAAF site to rekindle my interest in her, but it has . . .

http://www.iaaf.net/news/athletes/newsid=45591.html

[eldanielfire]

Re: Svetlana Feofanova

I think Marlow nails it. Feofanova isn't as attractive or as charismatic as Isi. Of course Isi went on to achieve much greater things, but it's hard to avoid the suspicion that Svetlana wouldn't have been as big a star even if she had accomplished as much. At the time there was genuine rivalry between them I rooted for Feofanova. Isi has grown on me over the years, but Feofanova remains my favorite polevaulter. She may not have been an Isi, but she broke world records and won world and european titles.
One further point, which put a seal on my liking for her. In the 2004 olympics Isi ended the competition by breaking the world record and Feofanova was caught on camera smiling. It was utterly spontaneous. There had been a lot of talk about their rivalry( and it does seem there was some animosity between them). Nonetheless Svetlana was able to simply celebrate her breaking the world record.

I disagree. Isinbayeva is one of the few athletes whose reputation stretches further from the sport. Sure she is attractive, but I recall somewhere between Athens and Beijing there were tons (for T&F) of media sites and blogs referencing how many world records she broke and how she kept breaking them. That is the main thrust of her global fame. Even some kids I've spoken to know that after naming Bolt there is a Russian pole Vaulter who has broke 20+ records, it was well referenced even if many people couldn't strictly name her. It helped that she broke the world record again in Beijing as well, T&F fame always goes further if you do that on the biggest stage of all.

[gh]

Re: Svetlana Feofanova

Hate to be harsh, but what a ludicrous complaint. If you went to a board based out of Paris would you bitch because everybody was posting in French?

That is irrelevant. I mean imperial is our system but we have managed to keep up with the world; I have to say it often seems as though the US tries to be different just for the sake of it :P

Anyway I don't want to drag this thread into name calling so I'll shut up now.

good idea

Don' be so snide

That wasn't remotely snide. It was a flat-out warning to cease and desist. Thanks.

[26mi235]

Re: Svetlana Feofanova

But, the lack of match with the human scale was one of the reasons that it failed to take hold here. Nothing in the measurement system was really set up with people in mind (meter - 10,000 in a quadrant of earth, etc).

[Marlow]

Re: Svetlana Feofanova

The "what's wrong with you Americans who can't adapt to the metric system?" mewling always amuses me. We like Imperial in all its quirkiness. That just makes us more unique, which is what we're REALLY after, doanchaknow?!

[iain]

Re: Svetlana Feofanova

Hate to be harsh, but what a ludicrous complaint. If you went to a board based out of Paris would you bitch because everybody was posting in French?

That is irrelevant. I mean imperial is our system but we have managed to keep up with the world; I have to say it often seems as though the US tries to be different just for the sake of it :P

Anyway I don't want to drag this thread into name calling so I'll shut up now.

good idea

Don' be so snide

[gh]

Re: Svetlana Feofanova

Hate to be harsh, but what a ludicrous complaint. If you went to a board based out of Paris would you bitch because everybody was posting in French?

That is irrelevant. I mean imperial is our system but we have managed to keep up with the world; I have to say it often seems as though the US tries to be different just for the sake of it :P

Anyway I don't want to drag this thread into name calling so I'll shut up now.

good idea

[norunner]

Re: Svetlana Feofanova

Hate to be harsh, but what a ludicrous complaint. If you went to a board based out of Paris would you bitch because everybody was posting in French?

I would bitch if the french themselves didn't know which language to use. As far as i know the US military uses the metric system as does NASA. Didn't they even loose a mars orbiter because the specifications were metric but a subcontractor used feet? And even in T&F you use the metric system, after all, you run 100/200 etc meters, not feet.

[iain]

Re: Svetlana Feofanova

Hate to be harsh, but what a ludicrous complaint. If you went to a board based out of Paris would you bitch because everybody was posting in French?

That is irrelevant. I mean imperial is our system but we have managed to keep up with the world; I have to say it often seems as though the US tries to be different just for the sake of it :P

Anyway I don't want to drag this thread into name calling so I'll shut up now.

[gh]

Re: Svetlana Feofanova

Hate to be harsh, but what a ludicrous complaint. If you went to a board based out of Paris would you bitch because everybody was posting in French?

[iain]

Re: Svetlana Feofanova

As the first-ever 16 footer, Feofanova deserves a special place in the PV Hall of Fame....if there were such a place!!
She's the female version of John Uelses, the first male 16 footer!!

It's only because she never again reached that mark that she doesn't get the recognition she deserves!
But, simply said, she was a pioneer!

She doesn't get the recognition because nobody outside of the US cares about 16 feet, which equals what, 4.87m ?

Yes, but the metric system is not always the right human scale. For the Vault, the distance between markers (a meter) is much too large to have many special numbers, (they get lucky with 5m); in the HJ it is useless where as 8 feet for the men and 7 for the women are the outstanding, feasible markers, and 7 feet was a big deal.

TBH it is really annoying how you refuse to use metric measurements. I mean over here in Britain we still use Imperial measurements mostly (though it is a funny mix), but when it comes to something like athletics it is much more useful to have everyone use the same measurements. I come on here and everyone is wowing over whoever putting however many feet, and it really means nothing to me.

[26mi235]

Re: Svetlana Feofanova

As the first-ever 16 footer, Feofanova deserves a special place in the PV Hall of Fame....if there were such a place!!
She's the female version of John Uelses, the first male 16 footer!!

It's only because she never again reached that mark that she doesn't get the recognition she deserves!
But, simply said, she was a pioneer!

She doesn't get the recognition because nobody outside of the US cares about 16 feet, which equals what, 4.87m ?

Yes, but the metric system is not always the right human scale. For the Vault, the distance between markers (a meter) is much too large to have many special numbers, (they get lucky with 5m); in the HJ it is useless where as 8 feet for the men and 7 for the women are the outstanding, feasible markers, and 7 feet was a big deal.

[Deerfoot]

Re: Svetlana Feofanova

I think Marlow nails it. Feofanova isn't as attractive or as charismatic as Isi. Of course Isi went on to achieve much greater things, but it's hard to avoid the suspicion that Svetlana wouldn't have been as big a star even if she had accomplished as much. At the time there was genuine rivalry between them I rooted for Feofanova. Isi has grown on me over the years, but Feofanova remains my favorite polevaulter. She may not have been an Isi, but she broke world records and won world and european titles.
One further point, which put a seal on my liking for her. In the 2004 olympics Isi ended the competition by breaking the world record and Feofanova was caught on camera smiling. It was utterly spontaneous. There had been a lot of talk about their rivalry( and it does seem there was some animosity between them). Nonetheless Svetlana was able to simply celebrate her breaking the world record.