Robert Eugene Richards was an American athlete, minister, and politician. He made three U.S. Olympic Teams in two events: the 1948, 1952, and 1956 Summer Olympics as a pole vaulter and as a decathlete in 1956. He won gold medals in pole vault in both 1952 and 1956, becoming the first male two-time champion in the event in Olympic history.
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. 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.
Ronald Hugh Morris was an American track and field athlete who won the national title in pole vault in 1958, 1961 and 1962. He placed fourth at the 1959 Pan American Games and second at the 1960 Summer Olympics. Morris vaulted 15 ft 0 in (4.57 m) in June 1971 for a Masters M35 World Record at the 1971 Los Angeles Senior Olympics. After retiring from competitions, he worked as athletics coach. Morris competed for the USC Trojans track and field team. He died on May 31, 2024, at the age of 89.
Jennifer Lynn Suhr is an American former pole vaulter. She has been an Olympic and World champion, has been ranked #1 in the World, has been the #1 American pole vaulter since 2006, and has won a total of 17 US National Championships. She holds the world indoor pole vault record at 5.03 m. She holds the American women's pole vault record indoors. In 2008, she won the U.S. Olympic trials, setting an American record of 4.92 m and won a silver medal in the Beijing Olympics. She won the gold medal at the London Olympics on August 6, 2012. Track & Field News named her American Female Athlete of the Year for 2008.
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.
John Thomas Pennel was an American pole vaulter, and four-time world record holder.
The men's pole vault field event at the 1972 Olympic Games took place on September 1 & 2. Twenty-one athletes from 12 nations competed. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by Wolfgang Nordwig of East Germany, the first non-American to win the event. Nordwig and silver medalist Bob Seagren were the third and fourth men to win multiple medals in the event.
Erica Bartolina is an American pole vaulter. She set a personal best of 4.55 m by placing third at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon, which guaranteed her a qualifying place for the Olympics.
Albert Ralph Spearow was an American pole vaulter. He placed 6th in his speciality at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris; later that year, he exceeded Charles Hoff's world record in Tokyo, but his mark was never ratified.
The men's pole vault was one of four men's jumping events on the athletics program at the 1968 Summer Olympics. The competition had two rounds, qualifying and a final, which were held on 14 and 16 October respectively at the Estadio Olímpico Universitario in Mexico City. Twenty-three athletes from 15 nations competed. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by Bob Seagren of the United States, the nation's 16th consecutive victory in the men's pole vault. Claus Schiprowski of West Germany took silver, while Wolfgang Nordwig of East Germany took bronze—the first medals for each of those nations as separate teams, though two West German vaulters had earned silver and bronze for the United Team of Germany in 1964.
William Healy Sefton was an American pole vaulter. Sefton broke the pole vault world record several times in 1937 and placed fourth in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.
The pole vault at the Summer Olympics is grouped among the four track and field jumping events held at the multi-sport event. The men's pole vault has been present on the Olympic athletics programme since the first Summer Olympics in 1896. The women's event is one of the latest additions to the programme, first being contested at the 2000 Summer Olympics – along with the addition of the hammer throw, this brought the women's field event programme to parity with the men's.
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, where she won a bronze medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics. This marked her as the first Canadian woman to medal in pole vaulting at the Olympics. Her vault of 4.85 meters also set a new Canadian national record.
Mark Hollis is an American track and field athlete who competes in the pole vault. His personal best for the event is 5.83 m, set in 2014. He finished third at the 2014 IAAF Continental Cup.
Armand Gustav "Mondo" Duplantis is a Swedish-American pole vaulter. Widely regarded as the greatest pole vaulter of all time, Duplantis is the world outdoor and indoor record holder, two-time Olympic champion, two-time World outdoor and indoor champion, and current European champion.
Eliza McCartney is a New Zealand track and field athlete who competes in the pole vault and won the bronze medal in this event at the 2016 Summer Olympics. She is the current New Zealand and Oceania record holder at 4.94 m, and is the outdoor world junior record holder at 4.64 m. She also won the silver medal at the Summer Universiade in 2015. In 2018, she placed second at the Commonwealth Games.
Wilma Anna Helena Murto is a Finnish pole vaulter. She won the gold medal at the 2022 European Athletics Championships in Munich with a jump of 4.85 m, equalling the championships record and setting a new Finnish record. Murto also claimed victory at the 2023 European Indoor Championships, making her the first Finnish woman in history to win gold at these championships.
Allison Rebecca Stokke Fowler is an American track and field athlete and fitness model. She broke a number of American records for high school pole vaulting. Images of her at age seventeen were widely shared on the Internet, resulting in her becoming an internet phenomenon.
Casey O. Carrigan is an American track and field athlete. He was the American high school record holder in the pole vault while at Orting High School. He qualified for the 1968 United States Olympic Trials. In 1968 there was a semi-Olympic trials required to make the final. In that meet, Carrigan finished in a non-qualifying seventh place, only jumping 4.87 m. But seventh place was enough to get into the finals. In the finals, he jumped 5.18 m on his first attempt, putting him into solid second place behind John Pennel, ahead of Bob Seagren and Dick Railsback both of whom cleared it on their second attempt. Seagren continued on to jump a new World Record of 5.41 m, but all the others were unable to make the next height. Carrigan had qualified for the Olympics in the pole vault while still in high school. At the Olympics, Carrigan was only able to clear 4.60, finishing twelfth in his qualifying group and not advancing. After clearing his opening height he passed to 4.90, the height required to advance. After missing his first two attempts, he cleared the third attempt by a foot and a half, what he considered the best vault of his life, but the officials ruled his pole broke the plane of the bar, a violation at the time.
The men's pole vault event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place between 31 July and 3 August 2021 at the Japan National Stadium. 29 athletes from 18 nations competed. Armand Duplantis of Sweden won gold, with Christopher Nilsen of the United States earning silver and Thiago Braz of Brazil taking bronze. It was Sweden's first victory in the event and first medal of any color in the men's pole vault since 1952. Braz, who had won in 2016, became the ninth man to earn multiple medals in the pole vault.
