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Olympic pole vault champion Jenn Suhr was pleased to have landed her gold medal, which she hopes to defend in Rio 2016 and praised the "intelligent" London fans.

 
Olympic pole vault champion Jenn Suhr was pleased to have landed her gold medal, which she hopes to defend in Rio 2016 and praised the "intelligent" London fans.

By David Brenchley

Suhr, who also came in first place at the AVIVA Grand Prix in Birmingham on Sunday, was second behind Yelena Isinbayeva in Beijing four years ago.

Earlier this month she exceeded that performance pushing, the Russian into third place with a winning jump of 4.75m, five centimeters shorter than she jumped in 2008.

The hours spent training in her back garden, where her coach and husband has set up a training facility which includes a pole vault run up, paid off for Suhr despite having the smallest margin for error to improve positions.

Suhr told Women Sport Report: "Silver in Beijing was very special to me and it was something I worked hard for but I wanted the gold medal in London.

"It's hard to get gold because you have won silver, which is second place, so there is only one place to go higher but there a lot of places to go lower.

"You understand that going into it and I went into it saying ‘I'm going to do this, I'm going to fight for this one'. You never know what is going to happen, you prepare for the worst but you really dream big.

"Staying focused and staying hungry for it [is important]. There's a lot of times when injury might hit or you might plateau and it's just about staying motivated, working hard and having your coach there to help you through it.

"The time between Beijing and London, four years is a long time, but it goes by fast and I think we will set our schedules up and be ready for Rio when it comes around."

The games in London have widely been praised as one of the best ever and Suhr feel the organisation and intellect of the fans contributed to that accolade.

"I think [the Games] is something that was so well organised," she added.

"It's hard to go into another country and feel at home or feel like you belong and know what's going on but the way the Americans were able to meet up with their families at places and travel to go and see things and still feel that camaraderie of home.

"The British fans were just so friendly to everyone and so positive. Even though you knew who they were cheering for they pulled for you too, they helped you and that is something you don't get in a lot of places so you're just thankful for that. He whole atmosphere was just electrifying.

"They are intelligent fans. They knew exactly what was going on and they were cheering and knew exactly when to cheer. It was fun to be in that situation and to know that there are people routing for you out there. There is that atmosphere that is so intense, the place was so loud."

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