Athletics at the 1992 Summer Olympics – Men's pole vault

The men's pole vault was an event at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. There were a total number of 34 participating athletes from 23 nations. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The qualification mark was set at 5.60 metres (six + six athletes).

This was a mostly clean competition, with only three athletes having a miss at a height that was not their best or better in the competition. The main exception was the favourite Sergey Bubka, who failed to clear the bar in the final. Maksim Tarasov took gold with only three attempts, clean through 5.80. Igor Trandenkov equalled Tarasov, but took three attempts to clear 5.80. Javier García took bronze in his home town by clearing 5.75 on his second attempt, to edge Kory Tarpenning who cleared it on his third. It was the second consecutive Games that Soviet or former Soviet vaulters won the event; Spain earned its first men's pole vault medal with García's bronze.

Background

This was the 22nd appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. The returning finalists from the 1988 Games were gold medalist Sergey Bubka of the Soviet Union (now the Unified Team), fifth-place finisher Philippe Collet of France, seventh-place finisher István Bagyula of Hungary, eighth-place finisher Philippe d'Encausse of France, ninth-place finisher Asko Peltoniemi of Finland, tenth-place finisher Kory Tarpenning of the United States, and thirteenth-place finisher Hermann Fehringer of Austria. Bubka was an "overwhelming favorite" to repeat; in addition to the 1988 Olympic gold, he had won all three world championships held to date (1983, 1987, and 1991), set 14 world records, and been the only man to clear 20 feet.

Cyprus, Israel, Latvia, Mauritius, New Zealand, the Philippines, and Portugal each made their men's pole vaulting debut; twelve of the fifteen former Soviet republics competed together as the Unified Team. The United States made its 21st appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.

Competition format

The competition used the two-round format introduced in 1912, with results cleared between rounds. Vaulters received three attempts at each height. Ties were broken by the countback rule.

In the qualifying round, the bar was set at 4.80 metres, 5.00 metres, 5.20 metres, 5.30 metres, 5.40 metres, 5.50 metres, 5.55 metres, and 5.60 metres. All vaulters clearing 5.60 metres advanced to the final. If fewer than 12 cleared that height, the top 12 (including ties) advanced.

In the final, the bar was set at 5.20 metres, 5.30 metres, 5.40 metres, 5.50 metres, and then increased by 5 centimetres as a time.Official Report, vol. 5, p. 49.

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in metres) prior to the 1992 Summer Olympics.

No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition. The following national records were established during the competition:

Nation Athlete Round Time Edward Lasquete Qualifying 5.00

Schedule

All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+2)

Date Time Round Wednesday, 5 August 1992 9:30 Qualifying Friday, 7 August 1992 17:00 Final

Results

Qualifying

The qualifying round was held on Wednesday August 5, 1992. Qualification rule: Qualifying performance 5.60 (Q) or at least 12 best performers (q) advance to the final.

Rank Group Athlete Nation 4.80 5.00 5.20 5.30 5.40 5.50 5.55 5.60 Height Notes 1 A Sergey Bubka – – – – – – – o 5.60 B Maksim Tarasov – – – – – o – o 5.60 3 B Yevgeny Krasnov – – – – xo o xo o 5.60 4 B Tim Bright – – – – o o – xo 5.60 5 A Kory Tarpenning – – – – xo xo – xo 5.60 6 B Igor Trandenkov – – – – – – xo xxo 5.60 7 A Alberto Ruiz – – o – o xo xo xxx 5.55 B Javier García – – – – o xo xo x– 5.55 9 B Asko Peltoniemi – – – – xo xo xo x– 5.55 B István Bagyula – – o o xo xo xo xxx 5.55 11 A David Volz – – – – o xo xxo xxx 5.55 B Philippe Collet – – – – – xo xxo x– 5.55 13 A Jean Galfione – – – – o o – xxx 5.50 14 A Philippe d'Encausse – – – – xo o – xxx 5.50 A Jani Lehtonen – – – – xo o – xxx 5.50 16 A Galin Nikov – – – o – xo – xxx 5.50 17 A Valeri Bukrejev – – – – o xxo xxx 5.50 18 B Edgar Díaz – – xxo – xo xxo xxx 5.50 19 A Daniel Martí – – o – xo xxx colspan=2 5.40 20 B Andrea Pegoraro – – – – xxo xxx colspan=2 5.40 21 A Peter Widén – – – xxo xxo xxx colspan=2 5.40 22 B Simon Arkell – – – o – xxx colspan=2 5.30 23 B Christos Pallakis – xo o xxo xxx colspan=3 5.30 24 A Doug Wood – – o – xxx colspan=3 5.20 A Jean-Kersley Gardenne – o o xxx colspan=4 5.20 26 A Mike Edwards – – xo xxx colspan=4 5.20 B Photis Stephani – o xo xxx colspan=4 5.20 28 B Edward Lasquete xxo o xxx colspan=5 5.00 NR 29 B Nuno Fernandes xxo xo xxx colspan=5 5.00 — A Kim Chul-kyun – – xxx colspan=5 No mark A Paul Gibbons – x– colspan=6 No mark B Aleksandrs Obižajevs – – – – – xxx colspan=2 No mark B Hiroyuki Sano – – xxx colspan=4 No mark B Tómas Riether – xxx colspan=6 No mark — A Hermann Fehringer

Final

The final was held on Friday August 7, 1992.

Rank Athlete Nation 5.20 5.30 5.40 5.50 5.55 5.60 5.65 5.70 5.75 5.80 5.85 5.90 Height Maksim Tarasov – – – – – o – – o o – xxx 5.80 Igor Trandenkov – – – o – – – o – xxo xxx 5.80 Javier García – – o – – o – o xo xxx colspan=2 5.75 4 Kory Tarpenning – – – – – o – – xxo xxx colspan=2 5.75 5 David Volz – – – o – – o – xxx colspan=3 5.65 6 Asko Peltoniemi – – xxo – – xo – x– xx colspan=3 5.60 7 Philippe Collet – – – – o – – xxx colspan=4 5.55 8 Danny Krasnov – – xo xxx colspan=8 5.40 9 István Bagyula xxo o xxx colspan=9 5.30 10 Alberto Ruiz – xxo – xxx colspan=8 5.30 — Sergey Bubka – – – – – – – xx– x colspan=3 No mark Tim Bright – – – – – xxx colspan=6 No mark

See also 1988 Men's Olympic Pole Vault (Seoul) 1990 Men's European Championships Pole Vault (Split) 1991 Men's World Championships Pole Vault (Tokyo) 1993 Men's World Championships Pole Vault (Stuttgart) 1994 Men's European Championships Pole Vault (Helsinki)

References

External links Official Report Results