Holly Bleasdale vs. Yelena Isinbayeva

Pole vault world record holder Yelena Isinbayeva (Елена Исинбаева) always makes her first jump when everyone else had made theirs. The Russian usually isolates herself from the other competitors, opting to cover her face with a towel and nap. British Olympic hopeful Holly Bleasdale was not amused. She called Isinbayeva "disrespectful" and likened her to a "tramp."

Read Tom Battaglia's column on Bleasdale's comments 

Holly Bleasdale at the Palais des Sports d'Orléans. (Photo from Defeder)

Track athletes nowadays feature non of the banter and trash talk prevalent in other sports. Although Bleasdale's words could somewhat help in drumming up interest in the sport, it would have been better if she had been a little more respectful of Isinbayeva.

Yelena Isinbayeva at the Doha World Indoors. (Photo from Erik van Leeuwen)

The sight of tens of thousands of British spectators cheering for a Bleasdale victory would be a sight to behold. I would love to see Bleasdale on top of the Olympic podium, but I'll have to root for Isinbayeva on this one. Despite Yelena's tag as the most dominant female vaulter in history, she has not been in top form of late, showing chinks in her armor the past few years.

Read: "London Olympics Preview - The Pole Vault"

After everything that Yelena has been through it would seem just for the Russian to strike gold one last time.

Pound per Pound

Women are often unjustly referred to as the "weaker sex." All things being equal, a man pitted against a woman in athletic competition is bound achieve a sizable measure of advantage, because of the former's testosterone level. Pound per pound, the term "weaker sex" couldn't be more erroneous.

In my country, the Philippines, triathlon has experienced an exponential growth in interest. The most prestigious competition, the Cobra Energy Drink Ironman 70.3 Philippines, has received widespread media coverage. One particular fact piqued my interest: the winner of the women's elite category, Magali Tisseyre (4:27.01), was ten minutes faster than the toughest Filipino male triathlete, Neil Catiil (4:37.10). Indeed, the sheer experience of Tisseyre in the international triathlon circuit dwarfs that of the young, 24-year old Catiil. After all, the domestic triathlon scene is relatively new, compared to its more established foreign counterparts.

Magali Tisseyre

Photo from slowtwitch.com

Another excellent case to point of comparison is Edward Lasquette's Philippine national pole vault record. As a 21-year old, the Filipino-American vaulter cleared the opening height of 5.00m at the Barcelona Olympics, rewriting the domestic record books.

Read hurdler49's "Glory Days"

Yelena Isinbayeva's (Елена Гаджиевна Исинбаева) pole vault world record of 5.06m is marginally better than Lasquette's best mark. Again, experience can also be a factor, with Isinbayeva achieving the record mark at 28-years old. Furthermore, Isinbayeva is an experienced competitor - lording over pole vault meets the world over.

Yelena Isinbayeva

Photo from marcopako

Sport, indeed, breaks barriers. Athletic competition, as showcases of feats of strength, human fortitude and endurance is an avenue for change.

We've made gigantic leaps and bounds the past one hundred years. Nowadays, it seems appalling to think that the Olympic's centerpiece event, the Marathon, opened its prestigious doors to the fairer sex only in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics - almost 100 years since the first modern Olympics in 1896. However, the highly-conservative International Olympic Committee still has some bulwarks of old-school chauvinism. For instance, ski-jumping remains exclusive only to men.

Read "Why Can't Women Ski Jump in the Olympics?"

Nevertheless, the inclusion of women's amateur boxing in the 2012 London Olympic Games puts the Olympic movement in good light - a bright beacon of hope to the Philippines, in particular, a country that has yet to win its first Olympic gold medal.