Yelena Isinbayeva has reset her targets on more world records and a third Olympic pole vault gold at the 2012 London Games after raising the bar to 5.05m in a dominant gold-medal-winning display.
The reigning double world and triple European champion set the new record in a fantastic night of vaulting at the National Stadium on Monday, completely dominating the field.
The height was a massive 25cm higher than her closest competitor in an event she has completely dominated for the last four years and in which she has rarely been tested by rivals.
Russia's Yelena Isinbayeva celebrates as she clears the bar to set a new world record during the women's pole vault final at the National Stadium as part of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games on August 18, 2008. [Agencies]
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The 26-year-old has been the world record holder since July 2004 and has now raised the bar on 24 occasions, although until last month she had not broken the outdoor mark since 2005.
But Isinbayeva admitted that she hoped to break 5.10m "really soon" on the way to surpassing Ukrainian men's pole vaulting legend Sergei Bubka's record of setting 35 world records.
"Yes, I'll do it. I just have 12 more to go. Life would be boring without records to break so I want to continue on forever," she said.
"I will still improve and the next goal is London" and the 2012 Olympic Games.
Isinbayeva acknowledged that she loved playing up to the crowd.
At a packed Bird's Nest stadium on Monday, with 90,000 people enthralled, all other events had finished when she started trying for the world record, meaning all eyes were on her.
"I was trying to do my best for the crowd," she said. "I felt that I could not go out without the world record because of the support the crowd gave me. I remember the feelings from Athens and I wanted to feel that again.
"It made me feel like an actress," she added of the attention diverted to her. "They are my crowd, they come for me. I feel like they want to see something great. I thought 'it's OK I'm here'."
The vaulter who has won all eight previous major international championships titles on offer also admitted that the expectation of victory was a burden for her.
"Everyone was so sure that I would win so I felt a lot of pressure," she said.
"In Athens not everybody respected the victory for me. Svetlana Feofanova was the favorite but here everyone was certain I would win and get the world record, so it was harder psychologically."
She also had a few words for American rival Jennifer Stuczynski, who won silver with 4.80m after bailing out three times at 4.90m.
The American had made a rather hopeful pre-Olympic promise to "kick some Russian butt", in reference to Isinbayeva.
"You see what happens. Sometimes people talk too much. I just go out there and prove myself," said Isinbayeva.
"It makes me angry how she can speak like this about me. I don't want to say anything back. First of all she must respect me and know her position and she knows it."
Isinbayeva, a former Russian Army lieutenant, had seen her 23-meet win streak snapped indoors at Poland earlier this year by Feofanova, the 2004 Olympic runner-up and a former world record holder.
But she only entered the competition at the National Stadium at 4.70m, when there were only four other vaulters still in with a chance. Seven others had crashed out at sub-4.70m heights.
She passed twice at 4.75m and 4.80m before easily vaulting 4.85m. She then set a new Olympic record of 4.95m after failing twice at that height.
Burying herself under a duvet between vaults, the Volgograd-born athlete, who trained as a gymnast, cleared 5.05m at her third attempt.
Feofanova took bronze with a best of 4.75m.
AFP
