Born in Luhansk, Sergey Nazarovych Bubka was a track-and-field athlete in the 100-meter dash and the long jump, but became a world-class champion only when he turned to the pole vault.

From 2002 to 2006, Bubka was a member of the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada with the Party of Regions group and until 2014 an advisor to Viktor Yanukovych.

[14] He was on the youth policy, physical culture, sport and tourism committee while a MVR.

[16] Sergey Bubka started competing on the international athletics scene in 1981 when he participated in the European Junior Championship finishing seventh.

[citation needed] The years that followed witnessed the unparalleled dominance of Bubka, with him setting new records and standards in pole vaulting.

[20] The first Olympics after Bubka's introduction to the international athletics was held in 1984 and was boycotted by the USSR along with the majority of other Eastern Bloc countries.

[21] Bubka won the pole vault event in six consecutive IAAF World Championships in Athletics in the period from 1983 to 1997: Bubka broke the world record for men's pole vault 35 times during his career.

[24] The Petrov/Bubka model allows the vaulter to continuously put energy into the pole while rising towards the bar.

The Petrov/Bubka model follows the technique used by Kjell Isaksson,[25][26][27][28] which concentrates on driving the pole up, rather than bending it while planting it on the landing pad, combined with high running speed.