How it works
Competitors vault over a 14ft-long horizontal bar by sprinting along a runway and jamming a flexible pole against a 3in-high ‘stop board’ at the back of a recessed metal ‘plant box’ sited centrally at the base of the jump. They seek to clear the greatest height without knocking the bar to the ground.
All competitors have three attempts per height, although they can elect to ‘pass’, i.e. advance to a greater height despite not having cleared the current one. Three consecutive failures at the same height, or combination of heights, cause a competitor’s elimination.
If competitors are tied on the same height, the winner will have had the least failures at that height. If competitors are still tied, the winner will have had the least failures across the entire competition. Thereafter a jump-off will decide the winner.
History
Practised in Ancient Greece, as well as by Cretans (who vaulted bulls, apparently) and Celts (who, more prosaically, needed to get across boggy ground without sinking), the origins of the modern competition can be traced back to Germany in the 1850s when the sport was adopted by a nationwide gymnastic association. The technique we know today, however, was developed in the USA.
Vaulting poles used to be made from bamboo but are now made from more flexible fibreglass or carbon fibre.
Did you know
Tom Ray, a Cumbrian vaulter who was world champion in 1887, used to gain several feet by climbing the pole at its perpendicular. This method has now been outlawed: if avaulter’s grip moves above the top hand after take-off, the vault is declared foul.
Gold standard
America racked up an incredible sequence by winning every men’s Olympic title from 1896 to 1968 (if the intercalated 1906 Games are discounted). They also boast the reigning Olympic (Tim Mack) and world (Brad Walker) champions. The East European countries, as well as Germany and France, also have a strong tradition.
The first women’s Olympic pole vault took place at the 2000 Sydney Games.
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Sergey Bubka
The Ukrainian won six consecutive world titles between 1983 and 1997 and set 35 world records. Despite his overall success, he won only one Olympic gold (1988).
Yelena Isinbayeva
This charismatic Russian is a serial world record-breaker – 21 at last count – and has revolutionised her event. She is the reigning world, Olympic and European champion.