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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.