Bubka assures greater support for Lankan athletics

By Leslie FERNANDO

Athletic Association of Sri Lanka is in luck's way, they receive tremendous support for the uplift of athletics in Sri Lanka through the promise made by the reigning world pole vault record holder and Olympic Gold Medallist Sergei Bubka senior vice president of LAAF and President of NOC Ukraine who is here on a two day visit.

Bubka at a press briefing held at the National Olympic Committee Auditorium yesterday said that there is plenty of talent among the young athletes in Sri Lanka. I will go flat out to help the Athletic Association of Sri Lanka to get more assistance from the IAAF and the Asian Athletic Association for the development of athletics. In fact I will get the support from the Ukraine Government to assist the Sri Lanka athletics to reach greater heights.

I was very impressed when I visited the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium in Diyagama on Saturday morning for Kids Athletics Program. It is one of the best stadiums I have seen around the globe. It was indeed great to see well over 900 kids participating in athletics. It was a fruitful and productive program arranged by the Athletic Association.

Sri Lanka has a long history in athletics. It should also be noted that the war is now over and everybody live in peace. So the sportsmen and women could bring pride to the nation by performing well in athletics.

It was a great opportunity to meet the Minister of Education and Minister of Sports of your country and I assured both of them stronger relationship will be strengthen and possible assistance will be offered to local athletes to further their skills. Bubka added that IAAF spend nearly 14 million dollars for athletes in the under developed countries and they will increase the financial assistance in the future.

Your pole vaulter will be given the opportunity to visit Italy for training schedules in a few months time. I will also assure that to send qualified coaches to help the Sri Lanka athletes.

Sri Lanka coaches will also get the opportunity to undergo special training abroad. Furthermore I will personally intervene in arranging to send some qualified coaches to train your middle distance runners and in throwing events. Bubka also added that Athletic Association have to scientifically develop the athletic abilities of the competitors at the junior national level as they will be representing the country at the future international competitions.

He also praised the Sri Lanka Olympic Movement. National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka possess a fantastic building and I will recommend to Ukraine Government to build a similar type of building as in Sri Lanka. Bubka first became the world pole vault champion in May 1984 clearing 5.85 metres. A week later he improved his new world mark to 5.88 and then to 5.90 m a month later. He became the first man to break the six-metre barrier in pole vault on 13 July, 1985 in Paris. There was hardly any athlete to challenge Bubka's dominance during the next ten years until his retirement in 2001.

The Ukrainian won the IAAF World Championships pole vault gold medals on six successive occasions from 1983 to 1997. He won the gold medal of his pet event at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul.

What is unique in Bubka's illustrious career is that he had been able to break the world record for men's pole vault on 35 occasions in his career. He had broken the outdoor world record 17 times and the indoor world record on 18 occasions.