You need to work very hard, you have to spend a lot of time practicing your sport - six to seven hours daily.

The pole vault is a very complicated event, there are many things involved.

I decided to create a sports club during the Soviet times. It was my dream.

I have bought pole vault equipment, the landing areas, posts, which costs a lot of money. We pay for coaches

And, of course, method is very important as is a high-quality specialist (trainer) working with you to keep you going in the right direction for your improvement and to help create results.

I began with track and field because this is what I know.

Even now, I want to keep my amateur spirit, to spend my time, to be in the sport with all my heart.

I am alone, some people help me, but, basically, I can do what I want.

The Olympics are always a special competition. It is very difficult to predict what will happen.

I love the pole vault because it is a professor's sport. One must not only run and jump, but one must think. Which pole to use, which height to jump, which strategy to use. I love it because the results are immediate and the strongest is the winner. Everyone knows it. In everyday life that is difficult to prove.

The strategy of my coach and me was that we looked at pictures of all the best pole vaulters from around the world, and we took the best parts from them, and we created a person that had never existed. We then started to work toward being such a person.