A popular legend: pole vaulter Sergei Bubka earned record-breaking bonuses from Nike by adding a few centimeters to each new record he set. Bubka was known as "Mr. Record." He won six world championships and set 35 world records. In 1985, in Paris, Bubka was the first in history to jump six meters! And in 1993, Bubka cleared a record-breaking 6.15 meters. This achievement was only surpassed in 2014 by French athlete Renaud Lavillenie. Time and again, Sergei Bubka improved his results, adding just a few centimeters. Gradually, a legend emerged that he was doing this because he received prize money for each new achievement. In 1992, Bubka signed a contract with Nike, which, among other things, paid him bonuses for setting new records. Fans calculated that the athlete could have earned up to $3.5 million this way! However, Bubka himself always explained his records, set with just 1-2 cm differences, as a desire not to go down in history as the author of just one achievement. For example, this happened to American Bob Beamon, who set a long jump record but could never improve his 8.9-meter result.