Since the days of Asnoldo Devonish, Venezuela has been waiting to produce a great athletics talent. At the Olympic Games of Helsinki 1952, Devonish won the first Olympic medal for the South American nation, a Triple Jump bronze with a 15.52m jump, and now, more than 50 years later, a youngster named Keisa Monterola could deliver a similar performance at the 2005 IAAF/Maroc Telecom World Youth Championships in Marrakesh.

Slowly but surely, Monterola has been climbing higher and higher with her pole, to finally arrive in Morocco with the World’s youth best performance of the season shared with Greece’s Ekateríni Stefanídi, a 4.25 meters vault obtained in San Carlos de Cojedes on 18 June.

Monterola began her athletics career in 2002 at the age of 14, and finished that season with a 3.55m performance.

By 2004 she had already set the national record with a 3.90m jump, and that year she took the South Youth American title in Guayaquil.

Yet, the biggest breakthrough happened this season when she first climbed over 4 metres, setting 3 records after that. 4.20m on 28 May (at Maracaibo), 4.22m on 4 June (at Barquisimeto) and finally 4.25 in San Carlos, a National Record, a South American Junior and Youth record, and also a CAC absolute record.

That consistency of performances has given her that status of medal candidate for Marrakesh, and this is the way Monterola reflects about her career.

“My first contact with sports was through Gymnastics, which I practiced for 7 years. My actual coach, Alexander Radchich, from Russia, used to watch the gymnasts, and he saw that I was becoming too tall for that sport. So he approached me and made me an offer to do pole-vaulting, and right away I realized that the change of disciplines would be the right thing to do.”

“The beginnings were a little hard because I was too young to compete with adults, or if not, I would end up jumping alone or with boys. It was hard to get situated. Last year I could have also jumped higher, but that didn’t happen because of the lack of the right poles in Venezuela.”

“Coach Radchich has spent 7 years in Caracas, and he is the best I could find in the country. He has a great deal of experience and he is like a father to me and the other athletes he coaches. I’m very thankful to him because he spotted me at that gym. I wouldn’t change him for anyone, because he knows almost all the secrets of the event, but he still tries to learn even more.”

“The hardest things in pole vaulting are several… It’s a very technical event. You need everything: precision, agility, mental strength, besides speed and physical strength. That’s very hard to combine”.

“Like almost every vaulter, I admire Sergey Bubka. He was the Czar of pole vaulting, but my coach always talks about those times where jumpers only landed on sand, and had no cushion to absorb the impacts. From those times and all times, I also admire all athletes who remain humble after reaching great heights having emerged from poor environments”.

“My beginnings were just like the ones of any other athlete. My family always supported me, and after obtaining some good results, I began getting more and more support. First it was the local federation of the Capital District of Caracas, and later the National Federation which now provides me with all their aid”.

“At the beginning of the season I set my goals on improving technically and giving more dedication to the training. I also received new poles, and that made a great difference in my results. That proved that what we were requesting in terms of equipment was totally justified”.

“I have Marrakesh on my sight, and I dream of ending on the podium with the medal around my neck and the Venezuelan flag waving high. Yet, I realize that it’s just a dream and we need to be patient and wait for the qualifying, the final and then take it jump by jump, with no rush”.

“I have attacked the World Youth Best 3 times, and every time I feel closer and closer, but sometimes I feel inside as if I were waiting for the World Championships to break it, and win the gold medal, if God keeps guiding me”.

Keisa Monterola

Born in Caracas on 26 February 1988.

1.73m; 60Kg.

Coached by Alexander Radchich.

Club Olimpia.

Progression at Pole Vault. 2002: 3.55; 2003: 3.70; 2004: 3.90; 2005: 4.25.

2005 Performances

3.80 Valencia, VEN 16 April

4.20 Maracaibo 28 May

4.22 Barquisimeto 4 June

4.25 San Carlos 18 Jun