POLE VAULTER • UKRAINE • 1963

Olympic Champion, six-time World Champion and four-time Indoor World Champion, World Record holder athlete

Best results

Personal best:

614 cm WR
1994, Sestriere
(outdoor)

615 cm
1993, Donetsk
(indoor)

35 x World Record holder
(18x outdoor, 17x indoor)

Olympic Games:

1x 1. place*
1988, Seoul: 590 cm

*He won the Olympic title representing the Soviet Union.

World Championship:

6x 1. place*
1983, Helsinki: 570 cm
1987, Rome: 585 cm
1991, Tokio: 595 cm
1993, Stuttgart: 600 cm
1995, Gothenburg: 592 cm
1997, Athens: 601 cm

*In 1983, 1987 and 1991, he represented the Soviet Union, in 1993, 1995 and 1997 he represented Ukraine.

Indoor World Championships:

4x 1. place*
1985, Paris: 590 cm
1987, Indianapolis: 590 cm
1991, Sevilla: 600 cm
1995, Barcelona: 590 cm

*In 1985, 1987 and 1991, he represented the Soviet Union, in 1995 he represented Ukraine.

At the Jumping Gala:

1x participant
1993 – 580 cm – 1. palce

The personal story of museum founder János Angyal about this pair of sport shoes

Attending the world competitions, thanks to the invitation of my friends I could go to the P-T-S (Pravda-Televízia-Slovnaft) competition in Bratislava on June 9, 1988. The first destination of the IAAF Mobil Grand Prix competition series was surrounded by a huge interest for pole vault. Two hours before the start of the event, the tribunes were fully crowded, I could only find space for myself on the concrete stairs. The heightened enthusiasm was centred at Sergey Bubka, who jumped his first world record of 585 centimetres in Bratislava on May 26, 1984. The atmosphere was incredible, by clearing  605 centimetres Bubka set the new world record – for my happiness, he did that over our A-P REKORD branded crossbar. The photo that was taken of the world record jump landed on the cover of the IAAF Magazine, which Bubka kindly signed for us in Russian later: To János Angyal from Sergey, above whose crossbar I set the record.

The historic photo travelled around the world, while the signed cover is framed and can be seen in our Museum. By the effect of this Bratislava experience I decided to bring Bubka to the Jumping Gala in Salgótarján. My dream came true on September 12,1993 as with the help of István Gyulai we could bring the “tsar of pole vault” to the Main Square of Salgótarján. At that time he was already a four-time World Champion, World Record Holder, and Olympic Champion, so his participation came with a huge media interest. Aside the Hungarian Television (Magyar Televízió), for the first time Eurosport also broadcast a 45-minute-long compilation of the Jumping Gala. Welcome to Budapest! – said the reporter during the introduction, probably thinking that Salgótarján was one of the districts of Budapest. After clearing 580 centimetres, Bubka bravely increased the bar to 606, which attempt failed even though only by a little. The crowd clapped as one for this wonderful experience. At the evening banquet, Bubka and the leader of the Russian team gifted me a uniquely decorated Vostok watch. At that time, everything was so nice, but the story continued for me with a life-long lesson. It turned out that the main sponsor, who agreed to cover half of Bubka’s participation fee, went bankrupt and the check they showed had no cover. It was not an easy time, our family had to pay the fee in dollars. That was not by far an easy task in 1994, as purchasing currency was only possible if permission was granted by the Hungarian National Bank. I asked for the help of László Békesi, former president of the Hungarian Athletics Association, as then he was the Minister of Finance in Hungary. He personally accepted my visit in his office and by the time I got home, we had received the permission via fax. In accordance with our opportunities, we paid in instalments and by transferring the last instalment on December 22, 1994, we fulfilled the payment of the contracted participation fee. Naturally, we informed Bubka and his manager of what happened. At the EAA Convention in Budapest in 2009, Bubka signed the photo from the 1993 Jumping Gala as the vice president of the IAAF. For our Museum, he also signed one of his most valuable spike shoes and jersey. The shoes are one of a kind: thanks to the carbon-kevlar they only weigh 145 gramm, moreover, for the honour of the 35-times World Record Holder, Nike decorated them with gold. We treasure them in our Museum.