Pole Vault
Rules
Pole vault competitions take place in the pole vault sector, equipped with a bar on the holders and a place to land. The athlete is given three attempts at each height at the preliminary stage and the final. The height gain during the competition is determined by the judges, it cannot be less than 5 cm. Usually at low altitudes, the bar rises in increments of 10-15 cm and then the step goes to 5 cm.
The distance between the bar holders is 4.5 m. The dimensions of the landing site are 6 ×6 (5 × 5 for regional competitions) m. The length of the run—up track is at least 40 m, width is 1.22 m.
The attempt is considered unsuccessful if:
as a result of the jump, the bar did not stay on the racks;
the athlete touched the surface of the sector, including the landing site, located behind a vertical plane passing through the far edge of the support box, with any part of the body or a pole;
the athlete in the flight phase tried to keep the bar from falling with his hands.
The judge marks a successful attempt by raising a white flag. If the bar fell off the racks after raising the white flag, it no longer matters — the attempt is counted. If the pole breaks during the attempt, the athlete has the right to try again.
The phases of the pole vault
THE RUN-UP
REPULSION
DEPARTURE
PLANK TRANSITION
RELEASING THE POLE
LANDING
History
The men’s pole vault has been an Olympic sport since the First Summer Olympics in 1896, and among women since the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. It is part of the athletics all-around competitions.
Interesting facts
The pole vault is the only sport among the official IAAF disciplines in which the world record in the winter season is higher than in the summer.
In 1904, the Japanese Sawao Funi, who was taking part in the Summer Olympics for the first time, competed in the pole vault. Sawao Funi believed that the essence of this species was to climb a pole and fly over the bar. The athlete prepared a pole that was stronger than the other participants, put it in the sand in front of the bar, climbed up it and “took the height”, overcoming the bar. After the organizers of the Games explained to the Japanese that he needed to run before jumping, he ran along the track and repeated his mistake. Subsequent attempts to explain the rules of the jump to the athlete were also unsuccessful. Sawao Funi was disqualified and the result was not counted. The athlete decided that the judges were making claims against him because of his Asian origin, and reports of unfair refereeing appeared in Japanese newspapers. As a result, clarifications were made to the rules, from now on it was forbidden to intercept the pole with your hands.
Records
In open stadiums.
Men: Sergey Bubka 6.14 m Sestriere, Italy 1994. Women Elena Isinbayeva 5.06 m Zurich, Switzerland 2009.
Indoors.
Men: Renault Lavillenie 6.16 m Donetsk, Ukraine 2014. Women: Jennifer Sur 5.02 m Albuquerque, USA 2013
