Sergey Bubka is a Ukrainian former pole vaulter…..who represented the Soviet Union until its dissolution in 1991….and was twice named Athlete of the Year by Track & Field News….when in 2012 was one of 24 athletes inducted as inaugural members of the International Association of Athletics Federations Hall of Fame. Bubka won six consecutive IAAF World Championships….an Olympic gold medal….and broke the world record for men’s pole vault 35 times….with 17 outdoor and 18 indoor records….as Sergey has also beaten his own record 14 times…as seen in this video herewith….for he was the first pole vaulter to clear 6.0 meters (19.685 ft) and 6.10 meters (20.13 ft).
After breaking his own world record the at the Drake Stadium with a time of 47.45 seconds…Edwin Moses lost to West Germany’s Harald Schmid on August 26, 1977 in Berlin….and beginning the next week…. Moses beat Schmid by 15 meters (49 ft) in Düsseldorf….and he did not lose another race for nine years nine months and nine days. Moses qualified for the 1980 U.S. Olympic team but was unable to compete due to the 1980 Summer Olympics boycott. He did however receive one of 461 Congressional Gold Medals created especially for the spurned athletes. In the 1984 Olympics held in Los Angeles, Moses was selected to recite the Olympic Oath….but forgot the text during his presentation…..however he went on to win his second Olympic gold medal. By the time American Danny Harris beat Moses in Madrid on June 4, 1987…. Moses had won 122 consecutive races….set the world record two more times….won three World Cup titles….a World Championship gold….as well as his two Olympic gold medals. After the loss to Harris, he went on to win 10 more races in a row, collecting his second world gold in Rome in August of the same year. Moses finished third in the final 400m hurdles race of his career at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.
