EMMA GEORGE - BEECHWORTH OLYMPIC POLL VAULTER

Emma was raised in Beechworth and started pole vaulting in late 1994 after Mark Stewart, who became her first pole vault coach, placed a notice on her local club room window. She won the Australian title in 1995, with what was then seen as a promising vault of 3.40m. The 1997 World Uni Games champion made a move to Adelaide and then Perth to train with former Russian coach, Alex Parnov. Claimed the first ever women's Commonwealth pole vault gold medal and was ranked No. 1 in the world by Track & Field News in 1998. She then went on to set her 12th outdoor world record of 4.60m at the Grand Prix in Sydney in February '99. A training mishap forced Emma to go into the 1999 World Championships underprepared, but she recovered and won her fourth national title in 2000. After clearing 4.40m at the Telstra Athletics Trials Emma gained selection to represent Australia in the inaugural women's pole vault for the 2000 Olympics. Unfortunately Emma was not able to make it into the final after finishing eighth in her qualifying group. Following the Olympics, Emma had surgery to repair two stress fractures in her feet which included grafts and pins in the navlcular bones in both feet, as well as a complete ankle reconstruction and a bone spur removed from her heel. She therefore missed the 2001 season. Emma returned to competition at the Telstra A-Series Melbourne in 2002 where she placed fourth with a jump of 4.10m

Beechworth .com.au