Fabiana de Almeida Murer is a retired Brazilian pole vaulter. She holds the South American record in the event with an indoor best of 4.82 m and an outdoor best of 4.87 m, making her the fourth highest vaulter ever at the time, now the eighth. She won the gold medal at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics, at the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships and also won at the 2007 Pan American Games. Murer represented Brazil at the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics. She is a four-time South American Champion with wins in 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2011. Murer was coached by both the Ukrainian Vitaly Petrov, who managed the world record holders Sergei Bubka and Yelena Isinbayeva, and her husband, Élson Miranda de Souza, a former vaulter himself.
The men's pole vault was an event at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. Nineteen athletes from 12 nations competed. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The final was held on the third day of the track and field competition, on Monday November 26, 1956. The event was won by Bob Richards of the United States, the nation's 13th consecutive victory in the event. Richards was the first man to successfully defend Olympic gold in the pole vault; he was also the first man to win three total medals in the event. For the second straight Games, the American team went 1–2, this time with Bob Gutowski taking silver. Georgios Roubanis's bronze was Greece's first pole vault medal since 1896, and Greece's first Olympic medal overall since 1920.
Yarisley Silva Rodríguez is a Cuban pole vaulter. She won the silver medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics – the first Latin American athlete to win an Olympic medal in that event.
The women's pole vault competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom, was held at the Olympic Stadium on 4–6 August.
Holly Bethan Bradshaw is an English track and field athlete who specialises in the pole vault. She used to be the British record holder in the event indoors and outdoors, with clearances of 4.87 metres and 4.90 metres. Bradshaw won a bronze medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics. She also won bronze at the 2012 World Indoor Championships, gold at the 2013 European Indoor Championships, bronze at the 2018 European Championships, and silver at the 2019 European Indoor Championships. She also won at the 2018 Athletics World Cup. Coached by Scott Simpson, she has been consistently ranked among the world's best and has been ranked in the world top ten on the Track and Field News merit rankings four times.
The Women's Pole vault event at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics took place at the Daegu Stadium on August 28 and 30.
Katerina Stefanidi is a Greek pole vaulter. She won the gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics and has also competed at the 2012 London and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Stefanidi was the 2017 World champion and earned bronze at the 2019 World Championships. At the European Athletics Championships, she has won two gold medals and three silvers. Indoors, she is a two-time World Indoor bronze medallist from 2016 and 2018, was the 2017 European Indoor champion and earned silver at the 2015 European Indoor Championships.
Thiago Braz da Silva is a Brazilian athlete specializing in the pole vault who held the Olympic record of 6.03 metres. He won the gold medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics and the bronze medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Alysha Eveline Newman is a Canadian track and field athlete who specializes in the pole vault. She is 2024 Summer Olympics bronze medallist and 2018 Commonwealth Games champion, and holds both the Canadian national and Commonwealth Games records in the women's pole vault. Newman represented Canada at the 2016, 2020, and 2024 Summer Olympics, and is the first Canadian woman to win a medal in the pole vault at the Olympic Games.
The men's pole vault competition at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The event was held at the Olympic Stadium between 13–15 August. Thirty-one athletes from 16 nations competed. Thiago Braz da Silva of Brazil won the gold medal, the nation's first medal in the men's pole vault. Renaud Lavillenie of France was unable to successfully defend his 2012 gold, but became the seventh man to win two medals with silver this time. Sam Kendricks's bronze returned the United States to the podium after a one-Games absence.
The women's pole vault competition of the athletics events at the 2015 Pan American Games took place on July 23 at the CIBC Pan Am and Parapan Am Athletics Stadium. The defending Pan American Games champion is Yarisley Silva of Cuba.
The women's pole vault at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Beijing National Stadium on 24 and 26 August. 2013 Champion and world record holder Yelena Isinbayeva did not defend her title having given birth to her first child in 2014.
The women's pole vault at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Olympic Stadium on 4 and 6 August.
Kathryn Elizabeth Moon is an American pole vaulter. She won gold medals at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, 2022 and 2023 World Athletics Championships, and silver medals at the 2022 World Indoor Championships and the 2024 Summer Olympics. Moon was also the 2019 Pan American Games silver medalist.
The women's pole vault at the 2018 IAAF World Indoor Championships took place on 3 March 2018.
The women's pole vault event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place on 2 and 5 August 2021 at the Japan National Stadium. 31 athletes from 19 nations competed. In her first Olympics, 30-year-old American Katie Nageotte won the gold medal by 5cm with a clearance of 4.90 metres. The silver medal went to Russian world champion Anzhelika Sidorova and the bronze to Holly Bradshaw of Great Britain.
The men's pole vault competition of the athletics events at the 2019 Pan American Games took place on the 10 of August at the 2019 Pan American Games Athletics Stadium. The defending Pan American Games champion is Shawnacy Barber from Canada.
The women's pole vault at the 2022 World Athletics Indoor Championships took place on 19 March 2022.
The women's pole vault at the 2022 World Athletics Championships was held at the Hayward Field in Eugene on 15 and 17 July 2022.
The women's pole vault at the 2024 Summer Olympics was held in Paris, France, on 5 and 7 August 2024. This was the seventh time that the event was contested at the Summer Olympics.
