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Sergey Bubka believes The World Keeps Running offers the heroes of athletics the chance to inspire runners right around the globe.
The retired Ukranian pole-vaulter, one of the greatest athletes of all time, is now a highly-respected voice in world sport, serving as a senior vice-president and council member of the IAAF as well as an executive board member of the International Olympic Committee.
Having won an Olympic gold and titles at an unprecedented six different world championships, Bubka is ideally placed to help spearhead The World Keeps Running, an initiative to encourage more people to run that is part of the IAAF's Athletics' World Plan.
Bubka said: "The World Keeps Running is a very exciting initiative, not least because its main aim is to get more people around the world running, which will only help improve general health and fitness levels.
"The World Keeps Running also gives elite and world-class athletes the opportunity to make contact with ordinary people. We have the chance to communicate directly with people right around the world who want to develop their running abilities and reap the substantial health benefits that extra exercise will bring.”
Bubka, who burst on to the international scene at the 1983 world championships when he was aged just 19, believes it is vital for people - especially youngsters - to be inspired by the heroes of the sport.
He added: "The elite athletes have a responsibility to try and put something back into the sport. Athletics is about pushing your body, and mind, to achieve results. Great athletes show what is possible and they can inspire everyone to achieve the best they possibly can.
"Running was a big part of my event and was always an important element of my training. I have always enjoyed running. It is a very simple form of exercise that anyone can do, which is why it is such a good activity to undertake. The World Keeps Running can inspire more people to take up running - and that will only be a good thing.”
Bubka, who set no fewer than 35 world records (17 outdoors and 18 indoors) during his career and still holds both records (6m 14cms outdoor and a centimetre higher indoors), admits that it was a love for the sport that kept him motivated.
He said: "I have been in athletics for over 35 years. I love the sport and didn't want to stop competing. Why should I stop if I enjoyed it so much? I don't agree with the view that you should finish at the top. I always knew that I could accept being second, or third or fifth because I loved what I did. I have always felt that a sportsman's life is the best, most beautiful life you can have.”
Bubka agrees that everyone, even the very best athletes, need help and assistance - and believes The World Keeps Running can provide a new level of guidance and support, which will be particularly useful and effective for children.
He admits that he was fortunate to meet the right coach at the right time - and that he would not have gone on to be the athlete he became had it not been for Vitaliy Petrov.
"Everyone needs help - from being motivated to go out and train when you maybe don't feel like it or when it's cold or wet, up to technical advice - and the World Keeps Running is very exciting because, for the first time, it will provide that help online in a very detailed and thorough way,” Bubka said.
"It is fantastic that The World Keeps Running will be available to everyone no matter where they are in the world. It should prove particularly helpful to children. I was very fortunate that I got the right support and guidance when I was a young child.
"By the age of 10, I had taken part in most sports at school and outside. In the USSR at that time you did not normally start athletics at such a young age. A friend of mine recommended me to a pole vault coach named Vitaliy Petrov.
"I remember going for a test with Petrov. He timed us running 30 meters and also made us do pull-ups. I managed to do 15. That was a big result and impressed Petrov because I wasn't just using my arms but was swinging my whole body. So he could see I had good movement.
"I was very lucky to have met Petrov because he was to be the greatest influence on my life as an athlete.
"Everyone needs to find an influential figure to inspire them. But for many people that is not possible. That is where The World Keeps Running comes in as it provides a means for top athletes to communicate directly with anyone who wants to run and use athletics as a means to improve their health and fitness.”
