Family ties push the bar

15 Mar 06 04:43

Australia's Vicky Parnov will be
competing against her aunt,
Tatiana Grigorieva.

Pole Vaulters Tatiana Grigorieva and Vicky Parnov will put family ties aside at the Games as they compete for a position on the podium.

At 15, Parnov is the youngest member of the Australian athletic team, and needed little encouragement to follow her aunt's stride from the age of six.

The pair has once stood hand in hand on the podium. As a 14-year-old at the National titles this year Parnov equalled the standard Commonwealth Games qualifying jump of 4.13m and took the silver medal. Grigorieva took gold.

“She is not a kid any more, she is an elite athlete no matter her age," says Grigorieva, who used to prepare Parnov for school. "She is a fighter in every sense of the word."

“It only seems yesterday when we used to talk about little kiddie things, and it’s hard for me to get used to not packing her off to school but meeting her at training or in competition.”

Athletic performance is in her genes, as Parnov’s mother is a sprinter and hurdler, and her father and coach has a Pole Vault personal best of 5.82m, which ranked him sixth in the World in 1985.

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