Female Athlete of the Year -- Yelena Isinbayeva

Yelena Isinbayeva is often called the Queen of Pole Vaulting.

It came as little surprise that when her title was threatened early in the 2008 season, she understandably launched a fierce campaign to defend her throne.

What resulted was one of the most dominant seasons in the 26-year-old Russian's brilliant career. In March, Isinbayeva captured a third consecutive World Indoor title and set a new World indoor record. After a deliberately delayed start to the outdoor season, she embarked on an unbeaten campaign that saw her break her world record three times -- she has now set 24 world records in her career -- on the way to capturing her second straight Olympic gold medal.

Isinbayeva burst onto the world scene when she broke her first world record in 2003 and cemented her place at the top of the sport two years later when she broke the world record five times. But between 2005 and the start of this year, she was unable to eclipse the high standards she set.

In the interim, a new challenger emerged in American Jenn Stuczynski, a former collegiate basketball player, who made a rapid ascent up the all-time lists. In July, Stuczynski set an American record of 4.92m/16-1 3/4 at the U.S. Olympic trials in Oregon. After her victory, Stuczynski threw down a challenge to Isinbayeva, telling the press, "I hope we go over there and do some damage, kick some Russian butt."

The comment did not fall on deaf ears.

Five days later and thousands of miles away at the Golden Gala meet in Rome, Isinbayeva cleared a record 5.02m/16-6. Eighteen days after that, Isinbayeva raised the bar again, this time clearing 5.04m/16-6 1/2 at the Monaco Grand Prix.

"It made me so angry because everyone started to say 'Isinbayeva is finished, we have a new star,''' Isinbayeva said after setting the new standard. "It made me angry and I am happy for that feeling because I didn't feel it enough since my last world record.''

That set the stage for an anticipated Olympic showdown in Beijing.

Isinbayeva spent the first 90 minutes of the competition lying down with a baseball cap pulled down over her eyes. When the bar reached 4.70m she decided to stop passing and cleared the height at her first attempt. After tugging her cap back on to her head she sat down again and passed on the next two heights, watching as Stuczynski moved into first place at 4.80m. When Isinbayeva rose for her second vault of the evening she and Stuczynski were the only athletes left in the competition.

But when the moment of truth arrived, Stuczynski was unable to back up the war of words she started. The New Yorker failed to clear 4.90m/16-0 3/4 and was eliminated from the competition. That left Isinbayeva free to proclaim her sovereignty over the the sport.

She quickly set about an assault on her own records, beginning with the Olympic mark of 4.92m/16-1 3/4 that she set in the Athens final. Isinbayeva broke that mark on her third attempt at 4.95m/16-2 3/4, and then turned her attention to another world record. Down to her last chance at 5.05m/16-6 3/4, Isinbayeva went over the bar cleanly to set a new standard.

Having resoundly vanquished her latest challenger, Isinbayeva now has her sights set on history, specifically the mark of 35 world records set by Ukranian vaulter Sergey Bubka.

Why, you ask?

"Life would be boring without records to break, so I want to continue on forever," she said.