Sergey Bubka

Date of Birth: 12.04.1963

Sergey Nazarovich Bubka – Ukrainian athlete (pole vault). Olympic champion, world and European champion. Set 35 world records. President of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine (2005-2022). First Vice President of IAAF.

Place of Birth. Education. Born in Luhansk. Graduated from the Kyiv State Institute of Physical Culture in 1987. In 2002, became a candidate of pedagogical sciences.

Sporting Achievements. Sergey Bubka is a legendary athlete (pole vault). In 1983, he became a master of sports of international class. From 1983 to 1997, he won the title of world champion six times. Winner of the World and European Cups (1985), European champion (1986). He became the champion of the XXIV Olympic Games in Seoul in 1988. He has repeatedly won the grand prize of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).

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Throughout his sporting career, he established 35 world records. In 1984, he set his first world record at a competition in Bratislava, clearing a height of 5 m 85 cm. He was the first in the history of athletics to clear 6 m (July 13, 1985, in Paris).

Awards and Honors. The famous jumper - holder of the Order of the Red Banner of Labor (1988), Order of Lenin (1989).

In 1997, he was recognized as the 'Champion of Champions' by the French newspaper 'L'Équipe'.

In 2001, Sergey Bubka was awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine.

In 2003, he became the winner of the nationwide action 'Stars of Ukraine' and was recognized as a champion by UNESCO in sports.

Included in the Guinness Book of Records for the most world achievements in athletics. He was named the best athlete in the world three times.

Champion - Sports Functionary. Since 1999, Sergey Bubka has been a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Since 2000 - a member of the IOC Executive Board. From 1996, he was a member of the IOC Athletes' Commission, and in 2002 he became its chairman. In 2007, he was elected vice president of the International Association of Athletics Federations and first vice president of IAAF.

In June 2005, he was elected president of the National Olympic Committee (NOC) at the XVIII extraordinary general assembly of the NOC. He replaced Viktor Yanukovych in this position. In November 2006, he was re-elected as president of the NOC for 2006-2010. On October 7, 2010, he was re-elected until 2014. He was the only candidate for the elections and received votes from all 107 registered NOC members in a secret ballot.

Champion - founder of the 'Sergey Bubka Club'. Since 1990, under his leadership, annual international competitions among the strongest athletes in the world in pole vaulting 'Stars of the Pole' have been held.

In August 2015, he was elected first vice-president of the International Association of Athletics Federations at the IAAF congress in Beijing, China.

In September 2019, he was re-elected as vice-president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).

Champion-Politician. From 2002 to 2006, he was a people's deputy of Ukraine. He entered parliament under the 12th number of the electoral list 'For a United Ukraine!', which received the 'blessing' of then-president Leonid Kuchma. After two months in the faction, United Ukraine, Sergey Bubka switched to the faction of the Party of Regions. He worked in the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Youth Policy, Physical Culture, Sports, and Tourism.

From April 2010 to 2014, he was an unpaid advisor to President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych.

Champion-Entrepreneur. For many years, Sergey Bubka has been not only a famous athlete and sports functionary but also a businessman. The great jumper was one of the key owners of Rodovid Bank, which was among the largest banks in Ukraine (he was also its president). In July 2009, as a result of the financial crisis, Rodovid Bank was nationalized.

In spring 2007, the magazine 'Focus' estimated the NOC president's fortune at $350 million, placing him 56th in the ranking of the richest Ukrainians. A year later, that same publication estimated the assets of Sergey Bubka and his older brother Vasily (head of the supervisory board of Rodovid Bank) at $370 million (71st place in the 'TOP-130 richest people in Ukraine').

Views and Assessments. According to some specialists, Sergey Bubka, despite his fireworks of world records, has not fully revealed all his potential. The champion himself said he did not want to go down in history as a hero of one jump, like American Bob Beamon, who jumped 8 m 90 cm in the 1968 Olympics in Mexico. And the Ukrainian athlete managed to do this in full. In his time, the fifth IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch called him the most outstanding athlete of modernity.

Family. Sergey Bubka is married. The couple has two sons – Vitaliy (born in 1985) and Sergey (born in 1987).

Hobbies. Tennis, football, music.

November 16, 2023.