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Athletics at the 1968 Summer Olympics – Men's pole vault

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Men's pole vault
at the Games of the XIX Olympiad
Eventual bronze medallist Wolfgang Nordwig led the qualifying round alongside John Pennel.
VenueEstadio Olímpico Universitario
Dates14 and 16 October
Competitors23 from 15 nations
Winning height5.40 OR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Bob Seagren
 United States
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Claus Schiprowski
 West Germany
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Wolfgang Nordwig
 East Germany
← 1964
1972 →
Video on YouTube @ 10:20 Official Video

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.[1] Twenty-three athletes from 15 nations competed.[2] 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.

Background

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This was the 16th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. The returning finalists from the 1964 Games were bronze medalist Klaus Lehnertz of the United Team of Germany (now representing West Germany), fifth-place finisher Hennadiy Bleznitsov of the Soviet Union, eleventh-place finisher John Pennel of the United States, fifteenth-place finishers Herve D'Encausse of France and Ignacio Sola of Spain, and eighteenth-place finisher Christos Papanikolau of Greece. Bob Seagren was the world record holder and the favorite, though Pennel (who had held the record for parts of 1963, 1964, 1966, and 1967) was also a strong contender.[2]

Argentina made its first appearance in the event; East Germany and West Germany competed separately for the first time. The United States made its 16th appearance, the only nation to have competed at every Olympic men's pole vault to that point.

Competition format

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The competition consisted of two rounds, qualification and final. In both rounds, each athlete had three attempts at each height and was eliminated from the competition if he failed to clear that height. Athletes could choose to pass onto the next height, although any failed attempts were carried over into that height. The heights increased in increments of five centimetres. Athletes who successfully jumped the qualifying height 4.90 m (16 ft 34 in) progressed to the final round. In the event that fewer than twelve athletes cleared that height, the best twelve athletes (including those tied with athletes in the top twelve) would progress to the next round.[3]

Records

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Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.

World record  Bob Seagren (USA) 5.41 Los Angeles, United States 25 July 1964 [4]
Olympic record  Fred Hansen (USA) 5.10 Tokyo, Japan 17 October 1964 [5]

Eleven men cleared 5.15 metres or higher to break the old Olympic record. Nine cleared 5.20 metres or higher. Seven cleared 5.25 metres or higher. Six cleared 5.30 metres. Five cleared 5.35 metres (or higher). The three medalists, Bob Seagren, Claus Schiprowski, and Wolfgang Nordwig, all cleared 5.40 metres—where the Olympic record sat after the competition, as none could clear higher.

Schedule

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Date Time Round
Monday, 14 October 1968 10:00 Qualifying
Wednesday, 16 October 1968 12:30 Final

Results

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Key

  • o = Height cleared
  • x = Height failed
  • = Height passed
  • r  = Retired
  • SB = Season's best
  • PB = Personal best
  • NR = National record
  • AR = Area record
  • OR = Olympic record
  • WR = World record
  • WL = World lead
  • NM = No mark
  • DNS = Did not start
  • DQ = Disqualified

Qualifying

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Rank Group Athlete Nation 4.20 4.30 4.40 4.50 4.60 4.70 4.75 4.80 4.85 4.90 Height Notes
1 A Wolfgang Nordwig  East Germany o 4.90 Q
A John Pennel  United States o 4.90 Q
3 A Altti Alarotu  Finland o o 4.90 Q
A Erkki Mustakari  Finland o o 4.90 Q
A Hervé d'Encausse  France o o 4.90 Q
A Claus Schiprowski  West Germany o o 4.90 Q
A Christos Papanikolaou  Greece o o 4.90 Q
A Hennadiy Bleznitsov  Soviet Union o o 4.90 Q
9 B Ignacio Sola  Spain o o o 4.90 Q
B Mike Bull  Great Britain o o o 4.90 Q
B Kiyoshi Niwa  Japan o o o 4.90 Q
12 B Aleksandr Malyutin  Soviet Union xxo o o xxo o 4.90 Q
13 A Bob Seagren  United States xo 4.90 Q
14 A Kjell Isaksson  Sweden o xo 4.90 Q
15 A Heinfried Engel  West Germany o o xxo 4.90 Q
16 B Pantelis Nikolaidis  Greece o o o xxx 4.80
17 B Enrico Barney  Argentina o o xo o xxo o xxx 4.80
18 B Klaus Lehnertz  West Germany o o o xxx 4.75
19 B John-Erik Blomqvist  Sweden o xxo xxx 4.75
20 A Casey Carrigan  United States o xxx 4.60
21 B Wu Ah-min  Taiwan o o o xxx 4.50
22 B Heinz Wyss  Switzerland xo o r 4.50
B Ingo Peyker  Austria xxx No mark
A Renato Dionisi  Italy DNS
B Dominique Rakotarahalahy  Madagascar DNS
B Aldo Righi  Italy DNS
B Steen Smidt-Jensen  Denmark DNS

Final

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With three men tied at 5.40 metres, the countback rules determined the medals. At the final height (5.40), Nordwig had failed twice before clearing while the other two men had each failed only once before succeeding; Nordwig therefore took third place and the bronze medal. Because Seagren and Schiprowski were matched at one failure at 5.40 metres, the total number of failures for each before that was the next tiebreaker. Seagren had failed once before 5.40 metres (at 5.20), while Schiprowski had failed twice (at 5.25 and 5.35); Seagren therefore was the gold medalist and Schiprowski took silver.

Rank Athlete Nation 4.60 4.80 4.90 5.00 5.05 5.10 5.15 5.20 5.25 5.30 5.35 5.40 5.45 Height Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) Bob Seagren  United States o xo o xo xxx 5.40 OR
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Claus Schiprowski  West Germany o o o o xo o xo xo xxx 5.40 OR
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Wolfgang Nordwig  East Germany xo o o o xxo xxx 5.40 OR
4 Christos Papanikolaou  Greece o o o xo xo o xxx 5.35
5 John Pennel  United States o xo xo xxo xxx 5.35
6 Hennadiy Bleznitsov  Soviet Union o o o o xo xxx 5.30
7 Hervé d'Encausse  France o xo o xxx 5.25
8 Heinfried Engel  West Germany o xxo xo o xxx 5.20
9 Ignacio Sola  Spain xo o xo o xxo xxx 5.20
10 Kjell Isaksson  Sweden o xo o xxx 5.15
11 Kiyoshi Niwa  Japan o o o o xo xxx 5.15
12 Aleksandr Malyutin  Soviet Union o o o xxx 5.00
13 Mike Bull  Great Britain xo o xo xxx 5.00
14 Altti Alarotu  Finland xxo r 5.00
Erkki Mustakari  Finland xxx No mark

References

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  1. ^ "Athletics at the 1968 Mexico City Summer Games: Men's Pole Vault". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 4 January 2018.
  2. ^ a b "Pole Vault, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  3. ^ Athletics at the 1968 Ciudad de México Summer Games:Men's Pole Vault Qualifying Round. Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2013-09-07.
  4. ^ "12th IAAF World Championships In Athletics: IAAF Statistics Handbook. Berlin 2009" (PDF). Monte Carlo: IAAF Media & Public Relations Department. 2009. pp. Pages 546, 555–6. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 29, 2011. Retrieved August 5, 2009.
  5. ^ Athletics at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Games:Men's Pole Vault. Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2013-09-07.