Another Olympics Disappointment Injury Leaves Bubka On Sidelines; Second-Ranked Vaulter Also Bows Out

Sergei Bubka has set 35 pole vault world records in his incomparable career, and holds it now at 20 feet, 1-3/4 inches. He has won five consecutive world championships, and a gold medal at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul.

He failed to clear a height in the finals in Barcelona, and on Wednesday morning, the Olympics were again unkind to Sergei Bubka of the Ukraine.

On Wednesday, Bubka, 33, withdrew from the qualifying round because of an inflammed right Achilles’ tendon, which he first injured in mid-April and re-injured in mid-July.

Also not moving on to the finals was South Africa’s Okkert Brits, the world’s second-ranked vaulter who last year cleared 19-9-1/2, but here he cleared no height at all, dramatically improving the prospects of U.S.-record holder Lawrence Johnson.

Yet Johnson has a slight ankle sprain, and he badly missed twice before clearing his qualifying height of 18-8-1/2 on his final attempt. “I was real rough. There was some pressure there,” he said.

Bubka went as high as 19-9 in mid-May, and last Thursday was well enough to train for the Olympics. “It was OK,” he remembered Wednesday. “I made four jumps only, and it was OK. All of them were incredibly good, and I felt fantastic. But on the fourth one, for two steps of the run up I felt pain … and (when) I went back to the hotel, I was then in incredible pain.”

But despite taking cortisone, he was in pain again Wednesday.

“But I just couldn’t run at all,” he said. “I couldn’t do anything. I feel very bad, but I couldn’t fight with myself. It is for me a big tragedy. This is like a bad dream.

“These two injuries, especially the second one, are proof that the Olympic Games aren’t for me.”