Isinbayeva raises the bar and the bird's nest roof

The Russian pole vaulter tops off the demolition of her rivals with a world record for the crowd. By Andy Bull.

In a manner every bit as emphatic as Usain Bolt's 100 metres victory, Yelena Isinbayeva proved herself the greatest female athlete of her generation. Isinbayeva won a second consecutive gold in the pole vault and broke her world and Olympic records in the process.

The final had been billed as a showdown between Isinbayeva, the Russian, and the United States' Jennifer Stuczynski. There was certainly a fierce rivalry between them but not much of a contest.

After winning the US Olympic trials this year Stuczynski threw down a challenge to Isinbayeva: "I hope we go over there and do some damage, kick some Russian butt," she said.

The plan worked. Stuczynski set a personal best of 4.92m at the trials, higher than any woman other than Isinbayeva had vaulted. She reached 4.80m, 25cm beneath Isinbayeva's final world-record breaking vault of 5.05m (16ft 7in). Commanding as Isinbayeva's performance was in the final, she had struggled to find her best form over the last two seasons, bothered by the lack of worthy competition.

Stuczynski's comments rectified that, prompting the 26-year-old to break her world record three times since July 11; it stood at 5.04m until her performance in Beijing. The two women had played cat-and-mouse with each other throughout the final but there was no question who the cat was.

For the first 90 minutes of the competition Isinbayeva did not attempt a vault but sat trackside, her baseball cap pulled down low over her eyes. When the bar reached 4.70m she decided to stop passing and cleared the height at her first attempt. By that point seven of the 12 competitors had been knocked out.

After tugging her cap back on to her head she sat down again and passed on the next two heights, watching as Stuczynski moved into first place at 4.80m. When Isinbayeva rose for her second vault of the evening she and the American were the only athletes left in the competition.

Soon she had the stage to herself. Stuczynski failed at 4.90m and Isinbayeva had only herself to compete against. She had already attracted the loudest welcome of any foreign athlete at the meet, louder even than Bolt.

"I was trying to do my best for the crowd," she said afterwards. "It makes me happy, so happy, I felt that I could not go out without the world record because of the support the crowd gave me."

So, with 50,000 spectators clapping her on, she set about an assault on her own records, beginning with the Olympic mark of 4.92m that she set in the Athens final. The manner in which she did it, taking the maximum three vaults to break that and again for her world best, was enough to make a cynic think that she was stage-managing the whole thing.

It is not as implausible as it sounds: Isinbayeva has broken world indoor and outdoor records on 24 separate occasions.

Sergey Bubka, the great Ukrainian vaulter who set 35 world records himself, was in the stadium to watch.

He would have approved of the manner in which Isinbayeva has raised the mark one centimetre at a time, just as he did, making himself rich in reward money as he did so. "I will do it," she replied when asked whether she could surpass Bubka's tally, "I just have 12 more to go.

Life would be boring without records to break, so I want to continue on forever."

She admits that as well as making money "the idea of being glamorous is very important to me. I always want to look like a girl. I don't agree that you are either a sportswoman or a girl."

Before attempting her final vault she paused to add an extra two hairties to her ponytail and twiddle the rings on her fingers. No doubt her beauty adds to her popularity and her wealth but it is her remarkable talent that draws most attention. "It is hard to be more perfect than this. I will still improve and the next goal is London," she confirmed. Just 26 now, by 2012 she will be not just one of the richest sportswomen on earth but one of the most successful athletes in history.