Pole vault at the Olympic Games | |
---|---|
Overview | |
Sport | Athletics |
Gender | Men and women |
Years held | Men: 1896 – 2020 Women: 2000 – 2020 |
Olympic record | |
Men | 6.03 m Thiago Braz da Silva (2016) |
Women | 5.05 m Yelena Isinbayeva (2008) |
Reigning champion | |
Men | Armand Duplantis (SWE) |
Women | Katie Nageotte (USA) |
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.
The Olympic records for the event are 6.03 m (19 ft 9+1⁄4 in) for men, set by Thiago Braz da Silva in 2016, and 5.05 m (16 ft 6+3⁄4 in) for women, set by Yelena Isinbayeva in 2008. Isinbayeva's 2008 mark was a world record at the time and her 2004 victory in 4.91 m (16 ft 1+1⁄4 in) had been the first women's world record in the pole vault to be set at the Olympics. In spite of its longer history, the men's Olympic event has only seen two world record marks – a clearance of 4.09 m (13 ft 5 in) by Frank Foss at the 1920 Antwerp Olympics and Władysław Kozakiewicz's vault of 5.78 m (18 ft 11+1⁄2 in) to win at the 1980 Moscow Olympics. [1]
William Hoyt was the first Olympic champion in 1896 and Stacy Dragila became the first female Olympic pole vault champion over 100 years later in 2000. Armand Duplantis and Katie Nageotte are the reigning Olympic champions from 2021. Yelena Isinbayeva and Bob Richards are the only two athletes to win two Olympic pole vault titles, and also the only two athletes to win more than two Olympic medals in the discipline. The United States is the most successful nation in the event.
Rank | Athlete | Nation | Olympics | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Bob Richards | United States (USA) | 1948–1956 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
2 | Bob Seagren | United States (USA) | 1968–1972 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
Tadeusz Ślusarski | Poland (POL) | 1976–1980 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
Renaud Lavillenie | France (FRA) | 2012–2016 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
5 | Wolfgang Nordwig | East Germany (GDR) | 1968–1972 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
Maksim Tarasov | Russia (RUS) Unified Team (EUN) | 1992–2000 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
Thiago Braz | Brazil (BRA) | 2016–2020 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
7 | Shuhei Nishida | Japan (JPN) | 1932–1936 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
Igor Trandenkov | Russia (RUS) Unified Team (EUN) | 1992–1996 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | |
Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | United States (USA) | 19 | 15 | 13 | 47 |
2 | France (FRA) | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
3 | Poland (POL) | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
4 | Soviet Union (URS) | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
5 | Unified Team (EUN) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
6 | East Germany (GDR) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
7 | Australia (AUS) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Brazil (BRA) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
9 | Germany (GER) [nb] | 0 | 2 | 3 | 5 |
10 | Finland (FIN) | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
Japan (JPN) | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
Russia (RUS) | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
13 | Denmark (DEN) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
West Germany (FRG) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
15 | Greece (GRE) | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
Sweden (SWE) | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 | |
17 | Canada (CAN) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
18 | Spain (ESP) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Italy (ITA) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
Norway (NOR) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
Rank | Athlete | Nation | Olympics | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Yelena Isinbayeva | Russia (RUS) | 2004–2012 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
2 | Jennifer Suhr | United States (USA) | 2008–2012 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
3 | Svetlana Feofanova | Russia (RUS) | 2004–2008 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | United States (USA) | 3 | 2 | 0 | 5 |
2 | Russia (RUS) | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
3 | Greece (GRE) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
4 | Australia (AUS) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Cuba (CUB) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
ROC | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
7 | Iceland (ISL) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
New Zealand (NZL) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
Poland (POL) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
Great Britain (GBR) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
The 1906 Intercalated Games were held in Athens and at the time were officially recognised as part of the Olympic Games series, with the intention being to hold a games in Greece in two-year intervals between the internationally held Olympics. However, this plan never came to fruition and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) later decided not to recognise these games as part of the official Olympic series. Some sports historians continue to treat the results of these games as part of the Olympic canon. [2]
Continuing its presence since the first Olympics, a men's pole vault event was contested at the 1906 Games. France's Fernand Gonder entered as the world record holder and delivered by winning in an Olympic record-equalling mark. [3] The runner-up, Bruno Söderström of Sweden, also won a javelin throw medal that year. [4] Ed Glover, the American champion, was the bronze medallist. [3]
Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
---|---|---|---|
1906 Athens | Fernand Gonder (FRA) | Bruno Söderström (SWE) | Ed Glover (USA) |
In addition to the main 1900 Olympic men's pole vault, a handicap competition was held four days later. The joint fourth-place finishers in the main event took the top two spots, with Jakab Kauser posting a mark of 3.45 m with a handicap of 45 cm, and Eric Lemming coming second with his result of 3.40 m with a 30 cm handicap. Meredith Colket, the silver medallist in the main event registered 3.20 m with a handicap of 15 cm. [5] [6] Two further non-handicap "scratch" competitions were held that are no longer considered canon Olympic events: the American champion Bascom Johnson won an event on 16 July, [7] then three days later Daniel Horton (a triple jump competitor) defeated Charles Dvorak in a consolation event – both had missed the final proper as it was held on the Sabbath. Dvorak went on to win the Olympic pole vault gold in 1904. [8] [9]
The handicap event returned at the 1904 Summer Olympics. LeRoy Samse, the runner-up in the main Olympic pole vault, won with 3.58 m and a handicap of one inch. Walter Dray, sixth in the Olympic event, came second with 3.58 m and a ten-inch handicap, while Olympic fifth placer Claude Allen recorded 3.55 m off a seven-inch handicap. [5]
These events are no longer considered part of the official Olympic history of the pole vault or the athletics programme in general. Consequently, medals from these competitions have not been assigned to nations on the all-time medal tables. [5]
Yelena Gadzhievna Isinbayeva is a Russian former pole vaulter. She is a two-time Olympic gold medalist, a three-time World Champion, the current world record holder in the event, and is widely considered the greatest female pole-vaulter of all time. Isinbayeva was banned from the 2016 Rio Olympics after revelations of an extensive state-sponsored doping programme in Russia, thus dashing her hopes of a grand retirement winning the Olympic gold medal. She retired from athletics in August 2016 after being elected to serve an 8-year term on the IOC's Athletes' Commission.
Carl Albert "Flisa" Andersen was a Norwegian pole vaulter, high jumper, and gymnast who competed in the 1900 Summer Olympics, 1906 Intercalated Games and the 1908 Summer Olympics.
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 Decathlon at the 2000 Summer Olympics as part of the athletics program was held at the Stadium Australia on Wednesday 27 September and Thursday 28 September 2000.
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 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. Twenty-eight athletes from 18 nations competed. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The final was held on Tuesday July 22, 1952. The event was won by Bob Richards of the United States, the nation's 12th consecutive victory in the men's pole vault. Another American, Don Laz, took silver. Ragnar Lundberg's bronze was Sweden's first medal in the event since 1912.
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.
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