Yelena is married to javelin thrower Nikita Petin, who is 8 years younger than the athlete.
Recently, Yelena Isinbayeva turned 44 years old. The former athlete leads a closed life in Spain, rarely giving interviews and seldom appearing in Russia. She focuses primarily on her family and raising her children.
Yelena Isinbayeva is one of the greatest pole vaulters: a two-time Olympic champion (2004, 2008), bronze medalist at the 2012 Olympic Games, three-time outdoor world champion, and four-time indoor world champion, as well as a European champion. She set 28 world records in pole vaulting, retiring from sports in 2016.
"Of course, all of us athletes are selfish. And I am a terrible egoist regarding each of my world records. It’s a pity that I couldn’t jump 5.15 m, which I aspired to and hoped to achieve in Rio. 5.06 is certainly not as cosmic a height as I would have liked. If it had been 5.15, no one would have broken that record for the next hundred years," the champion candidly shared in 2017.
Yelena has been married since 2014 to javelin thrower Nikita Petin, who is 8 years younger than the athlete. They met online, both hailing from Volgograd. The couple has two children: eleven-year-old Eva and seven-year-old Dobrynya. In 2021, Yelena Isinbayeva moved with her family to Tenerife in the Canary Islands. Eva plays tennis and participates in tournaments in Spain in her age category.
Isinbayeva noted that motherhood has changed her views and priorities, making family the most important aspect of her life. "My husband and I take parenting very seriously! This is our future, our support, and our foundation," the former athlete shared. After retiring from sports, Yelena headed her charitable foundation, served on the International Olympic Committee's Athletes' Commission, participated in advertising projects, and was a judge on the television show "Ice Age."
In 2021, Isinbayeva enrolled in the MGIMO School of Business and International Competencies in the program "Global Sports: Legal Regulation, Positioning, and Communications." This project aimed to prepare the leadership of Russian sports federations. The former pole vaulter also officially registered a trademark under her name. The ISINBAEVA brand included clothing and sports goods, such as poles for pole vaulting.
Isinbayeva mentioned that she has two proverbs that help her live: "Everything you give away is yours. Everything you hide and bury in the ground has long rotted away." These are very serious words. The more we give, the longer what we have given lives. What we accumulate or spend on ourselves brings no joy. My second motto is: "If you did good, remember. If you did good, forget." Therefore, I forget my good deeds. But I remember everyone who has done good to me to this day, which I wish for you as well.
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