Athletics at the 1964 Summer Olympics – Men's pole vault

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Men's pole vault
at the Games of the XVIII Olympiad
Wolfgang Reinhardt, Fred Hansen, Klaus Lehnertz 1964.jpg
Left-right: Reinhardt, Hansen, Lehnertz
Venue Olympic Stadium
Dates15–17 October
Competitors30 from 19 nations
Winning height5.10 OR
Medalists
Gold medal icon.svg Fred Hansen
Flag of the United States.svg  United States
Silver medal icon.svg Wolfgang Reinhardt
Flag of the German Olympic Team (1960-1968).svg  United Team of Germany
Bronze medal icon.svg Klaus Lehnertz
Flag of the German Olympic Team (1960-1968).svg  United Team of Germany
  1960
1968  
Official Video Highlights @29:48 Video on YouTube TV-icon-2.svg
Official Video Highlights @29:48 Video on YouTube

The men's pole vault was one of four men's jumping events on the Athletics at the 1964 Summer Olympics program in Tokyo. Qualification was held on 15 October 1964, with the final on 17 October. 32 athletes from 20 nations entered, with 2 not starting in the qualification round. [1] The final lasted over seven hours, to date the longest competition in history. All finalists qualified at 4.60, however in the final five were unable to achieve the height again.

At the time, the United States had never lost an Olympic pole vault competition. In the final, the last remaining American was Fred Hansen, who at the time was also the world record holder. Hansen cleared 5 meters on his first attempt, but so did three German athletes, making it a four-way tie. Hansen passed the next height, watching as only Wolfgang Reinhardt was able to clear. Re-entering the competition at 5.10, Hansen failed his first two attempts, but so did Reinhardt. Hansen then sailed over his final attempt, while Reinhart could not. Hansen continued the American streak, which would survive through one more Olympics until the 1972 pole vault controversy, when defending champion Bob Seagren had his pole confiscated at the games and had to compete on an unfamiliar, borrowed pole. Reinhardt's silver and Klaus Lehnertz's bronze were the first medals by German vaulters.

Background

This was the 15th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. The returning finalists from the 1960 Games were fourth-place finisher Rolando Cruz of Puerto Rico, eighth-place finisher Rudolf Tomášek of Czechoslovakia, and eleventh-place finisher Dimitar Khlebarov of Bulgaria. This was the first Games to feature fiberglass poles, which had been used to break the world record 15 times since 1961. The last six were by three Americans: Brian Sternberg, John Pennel, and Fred Hansen. Sternberg had broken his neck practicing trampolining in 1963 and Pennel had suffered a (far less severe) back injury shortly before the Games, so Hansen was the favorite (though Pennel was able to compete). [2]

For only the second time in Olympic pole vault history (1932), no nations made their debut in the event. The United States made its 15th appearance, the only nation to have competed at every Olympic men's pole vault to that point.

Competition format

The competition used the two-round format introduced in 1912, with results cleared between rounds. Vaulters received three attempts at each height. Ties were broken by the countback rule. At the time, total attempts was used after total misses.

In the qualifying round, the bar was set at 4.20 metres, 4.30 metres, 4.40 metres, 4.55 metres (which every vaulter passed on), and 4.60 metres. All vaulters clearing 4.60 metres advanced to the final. If fewer than 12 cleared that height, the top 12 (including ties) advanced.

In the final, the bar was set at 4.40 metres, 4.60 metres, 4.70 metres, 4.80 metres, and then increased by 5 centimetres as a time. [2] [3]

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

World recordFlag of the United States.svg  Fred Hansen  (USA)5.28 Los Angeles, United States 25 July 1964
Olympic recordFlag of the United States.svg  Don Bragg  (USA)4.70 Rome, Italy 7 September 1960

The qualifying height for the final was only 10 centimetres under the old Olympic record; the introduction of fibreglass poles had made marks set before 1961 trivial for top vaulters. Thirteen men tied the old record, nine broke it, and Fred Hansen finished with a new record fully 40 centimetres above the old one.

Schedule

All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)

DateTimeRound
Thursday, 15 October 196413:00Qualifying
Saturday, 17 October 196413:00Final

Results

Key

Qualifying

Vaulters had to clear 4.60 metres to qualify for the final. The bar started at 4.20 metres, increasing gradually to 4.60 metres. Each jumper had three attempts at each height or could skip any lower height (but could not return to a lower height if he determined that he could not succeed).

RankAthleteNation4.204.304.404.504.60HeightNotes
1 Hennadiy Bleznitsov Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union o4.60Q
Fred Hansen Flag of the United States.svg  United States o4.60Q
Billy Gene Pemelton Flag of the United States.svg  United States o4.60Q
4 Risto Ankio Flag of Finland.svg  Finland oo4.60Q
Igor Feld Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union oo4.60Q
Roman Lesek Flag of SFR Yugoslavia.svg  Yugoslavia oo4.60Q
Pentti Nikula Flag of Finland.svg  Finland oo4.60Q
Wolfgang Reinhardt Flag of the German Olympic Team (1960-1968).svg  United Team of Germany oo4.60Q
Rudolf Tomášek Flag of Czechoslovakia.svg  Czechoslovakia oo4.60Q
10 Herve D'Encausse Flag of France.svg  France ooo4.60Q
Yang Chuan-kwang Flag of the Republic of China.svg  Taiwan ooo4.60Q
12 Sergey Dyomin Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union xoo4.60Q
13 Klaus Lehnertz Flag of the German Olympic Team (1960-1968).svg  United Team of Germany oxoo4.60Q
14 Manfred Preussger Flag of the German Olympic Team (1960-1968).svg  United Team of Germany xxoo4.60Q
16 Gerry Moro Flag of Canada (1957-1965).svg  Canada xoxoo4.60Q
Christos Papanikolau Flag of Greece (1828-1978).svg  Greece xoxoo4.60Q
17 John Pennel Flag of the United States.svg  United States xo4.60Q
18 Taisto Laitinen Flag of Finland.svg  Finland oxo4.60Q
19 Ignacio Sola Flag of Spain (1945-1977).svg  Spain oooxxo4.60Q
20 Dave Stevenson Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain oooxxx4.50
21 Rolando Cruz Flag of Puerto Rico (1952-1995).svg  Puerto Rico oxxooxxx4.50
22 Hisao Morita Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg  Japan oxxx4.40
23 Werner Duttweiler Flag of Switzerland.svg  Switzerland ooxxx4.40
24 Yoshimasa Torii Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg  Japan oxoxxx4.40
25 Renato Dionisi Flag of Italy.svg  Italy oxxx4.20
Masashi Otsubo Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg  Japan oxxx4.20
27 Paul Coppejans Flag of Belgium (civil).svg  Belgium oxxx4.20
Dimitar Khlebarov Flag of Bulgaria (1948-1967).svg  Bulgaria xxxNo mark
Włodzimierz Sokołowski Flag of Poland (1928-1980).svg  Poland xxxNo mark
Maurice Houvion Flag of France.svg  France xxxNo mark
Valbjörn Þorláksson Flag of Iceland.svg  Iceland DNS
Wu Ar Min Flag of the Republic of China.svg  Taiwan DNS

Final

RankAthleteNation4.404.604.704.804.854.904.955.005.055.10HeightNotes
Gold medal icon.svgFred HansenFlag of the United States.svg  United States ooooxxo5.10 OR
Silver medal icon.svgWolfgang ReinhardtFlag of the German Olympic Team (1960-1968).svg  United Team of Germany xoxoxoxoooxxx5.05
Bronze medal icon.svgKlaus LehnertzFlag of the German Olympic Team (1960-1968).svg  United Team of Germany ooooooxooxxx5.00
4Manfred PreussgerFlag of the German Olympic Team (1960-1968).svg  United Team of Germany xxooooxxx5.00
5Hennadiy BleznitsovFlag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union oooooxxx4.95
6Rudolf TomášekFlag of Czechoslovakia.svg  Czechoslovakia ooxooxxx4.90
7Pentti NikulaFlag of Finland.svg  Finland xoxooxxoxooxxx4.90
8Billy Gene PemeltonFlag of the United States.svg  United States ooxxx4.80
9Igor FeldFlag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union oxxoxoxxx4.80
10Gerry MoroFlag of Canada (1957-1965).svg  Canada oxooxxx4.70
11John PennelFlag of the United States.svg  United States xoxxx4.70
12Risto AnkioFlag of Finland.svg  Finland oxoxxx4.70
13Roman LesekFlag of SFR Yugoslavia.svg  Yugoslavia oxxoxoxxx4.70
14Taisto LaitinenFlag of Finland.svg  Finland ooxxx4.60
15Sergey DeminFlag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union oxxx4.40
Herve D'EncausseFlag of France.svg  France oxxx4.40
Ignacio SolaFlag of Spain (1945-1977).svg  Spain oxxx4.40
18Christos PapanikolauFlag of Greece (1828-1978).svg  Greece xoxxx4.40
Yang Chuan-kwangFlag of the Republic of China.svg  Taiwan xxxNo mark

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References

  1. "Athletics at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Games: Men's Pole Vault". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 4 January 2018.
  2. 1 2 "Pole Vault, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
  3. Official Report, vol. 2, p. 45.