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

People come from around the world and can understand each other without even speaking the same languages!

I think that, generally, you need to live with your sport 24 hours a day.

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.

Often you need to take some risk, but it must be a realistic risk, you can't take a crazy risk.

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.