Sexy Russian Pole Vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva: Faster, Higher... Hotter

If you're an American, you've probably never heard of Yelena Isinbayeva. More's the pity. Not only is she the best women's pole vaulter in the world by a wide margin, she's an amazingly vivacious and good-looking woman. Not that you or I care anything about that. We're talking sport here. Naturally. And if there happen to be a few nice pictures of Yelena Isinbayeva in the article to follow, rest assured that they're there for strictly educational purposes.

Yelena Isinbayeva is a two-time Olympic Gold Medalist in the women's pole vault, having won in 2004 in Athens, Greece and again in 2008 in Beijing, China. She seems to have been a natural at the pole vault, winning her first major meet a mere six months after she first took up the sport.

Eastern Europeans seem to have a particular affinity for the pole vault. Sergey Bubka, who was born and raised in Ukraine, but mostly competed for the Russian Federation in the wake of the break of the old Soviet empire, was the greatest men's vaulter in history, and his world record of 6.14 meters set in 1994 still stands to this day.

Yelena Isinbayeva holds the women's world record for the pole vault having vaulted 5.06 meters in Zurich, Switzerland earlier this year. The record came as sweet redemption for the beautiful Russian pole vaulter, since she had failed to clear any height at all in the World Track and Field Championships held only a week earlier, a hugely disappointing failure.

Like many attractive young women. Yelena Isinbayeva dreams of becoming a film star when her track and field career is finished. Of course there is a difference between what might be called "athlete hot" and "actress hot". Yelena's magnificently sexy athlete's body may not translate too well to the big screen. Judge for yourself from the pictures of Yelena Isinbayeva below.

Author John Devereux writes often about sports and news on his blog.