DAEGU, South Korea - Yelena Isinbayeva isn't asking for much.

Just another world record, another world title, and some sweet revenge at the World Athletics Championships.

The Russian pole vault queen is still smarting after some big letdowns at major events the past two years.

"It won't be easy for sure, but I'm very pleased to have reached this World Championships. My goal is the maximum goal the highest result that I can reach," the 29-year-old Russian said. "The most important thing is to set a new world record. Any height that I can achieve would be fine."

The two-time Olympic and world champion failed to record a height in the final stage of the 2009 Berlin World Championships and finished fourth in last year's World Indoor Championships in Doha, Qatar.

The setbacks were a bruising blow for the Russian star. She became the country's best-known female athlete by winning Olympic gold in Athens and Beijing and becoming the first woman vault over five meters.

But Isinbayeva, who has set 27 world records including the current record of 5.06m - decided to take time out from the sport to recuperate.

"A break from competing is absolutely necessary for me," she said last year. "After more than eight years of very hard training and competing at the highest levels both indoors and outdoors each year, I need to step back in order for my body to properly recover."

She returned to her hometown of Volgograd and teamed with Yevgeny Trofimov, her first coach, who took her from promising youngster to international star.

Slowly, she eased back into competition.

"He is the new old coach for me," Isinbayeva said. "With him I achieved a lot things I set a lot of world records, I won the World Championships and the Olympic Games, so I really believe that our work will bring another world record and another gold medal."

Isinbayeva returned to competition in February, winning two indoor events in Moscow, where she beat rival Svetlana Feofanova and reached 4.85 meters.

The one-year rest, she said, made her "more hungry and more excited for victories than before.

"It was just a temporary rest, which was necessary. I knew I was going to come back, especially for these championships, because I had some competitions here in Daegu. I like this competition a lot it's a very good competition, the crazy warm crowd," said Isinbayeva.

Isinbayeva said experiencing defeat made her treasure victory all the more.

"Now I evaluate every moment, every second and every minutes of my life and of course in sport," she said. "I evaluate more of my victories, (the ones I already) achieved and (the ones I am) going to achieve in the future."

China Daily

(China Daily 08/28/2011 page8)