Pole vault champion Isinbayeva hungry again for more glory

SINGAPORE - Two-time Olympic champion and pole vault world record holder Yelena Isinbayeva Wednesday said she was hungry again to compete and would focus on the 2012 Olympics after a self-imposed break from her sport following shock defeats.

The Russian had appeared infallible before the 2009 Berlin world championships, but failed to achieve a successful vault and left streaming in tears.

In March, she finished outside the medals at the world indoor Championships in Doha and announced an indefinite break from competition.

“I will now come back next year to the field,” the 28-year-old athlete said in Singapore, where she is an ambassador at the inaugural Youth Olympic Games.

“Now I feel like a completely new person and I have to prove myself from zero, I can be the best,” she said according to the Games’ official news service.

The Russian said she “waited till I was hungry until I came back,” adding that “it took me three months and I immediately returned to shape.”

Isinbayeva said she needed a break before the upcoming big events, namely the London 2012 Olympics and the world championships in 2011 and 2013.

“The 2012 Olympic Games is definitely my main goal. It is going to be my last Olympic Games,” Isinbayeva was quoted as saying.

Being the first woman to clear the five-metre mark, the Russian broke the world record 27 times, the last time just shortly after her teary exit in Berlin when she passed 5.06m in Zurich.