Word: bubka
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FIELD EVENTS, DECATHLON AND HEPTATHLON More old-timers. In the pole vault, Ukrainian Sergei Bubka, 32, has ranked No. 1 for 11 of the past 13 years, and should be able to beat back a challenge from youngster Okkert Brits of South Africa, 23, and Russia's 1992 Olympic champion Maksim Tarasov, 25. Cuban high jumper Javier Sotomayor, 28, the only man ever to clear 8 ft., is a solid favorite if his knee holds up; British triple jumper Jonathan Edwards, 30, is the first man to hop, skip and jump 60 ft.; and Czech javelin thrower Jan Zelezny...
...runway, then plants 17 ft. of fiber glass into the ground and proceeds to rocket, upside-down, toward the bar hanging nearly 20 ft. above his head. He has barely cleared the bar when one official turns to the other with an unusual confession. "Damn," he exclaims. "Check out Bubka. Wish that guy'd agree to be my wife's sperm donor...
...sort of notion one expects to hear Men Who Follow Sports expressing to each other, even in the New Age '90s. Come to think of it, this is hardly the sort of notion one expects to hear any man, in any age, expressing even to himself. But when Sergei Bubka thunders down the runway with the zeal of a mounted hussar about to drive his lance through a peasant yeoman, people are apt to do strange things. Things one wouldn't expect them to do. Things one might call downright ... unnatural. Like the three frat brothers who wrench their gaze...
...past eight years, Sergei Bubka's grip on the pole vault has been so unrelenting that every competition he enters becomes not a question of who will win but how high Bubka will soar...
...sport since -- winning the 1988 Olympic gold, taking 23 of the 25 meets he entered last year, and arcing 20 ft. or better four times. With his speed (10.2 sec. in the 100 m) and dazzling strength (his wedge-shaped upper body resembles a gymnast's), the 176-lb. Bubka is able to use a pole designed for someone weighing 44 lbs. more, allowing him extra spring. Sponsors reportedly give him as much as $25,000 to make an appearance, while Nike pays every time he sets a new world record. And at 28, the star grazer is probably still...