Team SG pole vaulter Rachel Yang reflects on a stellar career before one last hurrah at the 19th Asian Games

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.

Over her long sporting career, she has suffered more than 10 injuries, and has had three surgeries in the knee and one in the back.

This month, 16 years after her first international competition in the 2007 Asian Athletics Championships where she won a silver medal, the 41-year-old is preparing for the final competition of her career – the 19th Asian Games held in Hangzhou, China.

Reflecting on her unusual journey, Yang confessed that she never even liked pole vaulting – at least not at first. She told CNA Women that it was love that led her to take this less beaten path. 

LOVE ON THE FIELD

Don’t know much about pole vaulting? Indeed, it is not a popular sport because it is difficult and resource intensive, requiring expensive poles and other equipment.

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.

“I am afraid of heights. So honestly, I didn’t like (pole vaulting) because I found it scary. I’m not trained in gymnastics, so any time I’m in the air and not on the ground, I’m not comfortable.” she confessed. 

Then in 2006, she started dating her then-boyfriend David Yeo, a pole vault coach. Yang’s first experience with the pole was at the age of 23 at a junior college where Yeo was coaching.

“It was off-season, so nobody was training – (the team) went to play street soccer instead. Because I’d seen them do drills before, I did it by myself unsupervised.

“I just held the pole and did a little jump. Unfortunately, I