Even though she is the current national record holder in the sport, Rachel Yang didn’t start off liking pole vaulting. She tells CNA Women how it was a romantic relationship that led her to try the unusual sport, and how her love for her son helped her to overcome multiple setbacks to realise her sporting dream.
Rachel Yang is Singapore’s national record holder in women’s pole vault, a notoriously difficult track and field event where athletes use a long pole to propel themselves over a bar.
In fact, although Yang herself always loved sports and represented her school in track and field, badminton and volleyball, pole vaulting never crossed her mind. “It was off-season, so nobody was training – went to play street soccer instead. Because I’d seen them do drills before, I did it by myself unsupervised.
But Yang’s competitive nature soon took over. Setting her sights on representing Singapore in pole vaulting, she began to train rigorously. “I couldn’t walk. But I didn’t let anybody know and just managed the pain. Because of my injury, I was worried I wouldn’t be able to jump.