Pole vault

Pole vaulting is an athletics event where competitors use a long, flexible pole as an aid to leap over a bar, similar to the high jump, but at much greater heights. Pole jumping competitions were known to the ancient Greeks, as well as the Cretans and Celts, but with these exceptions there is no record of its ancient practice as a sport.

History

As a practical means of passing over such natural obstacles as canals and brooks, pole vaulting has been used in many parts of the world, such as in the marshy provinces of Friesland in The Netherlands along the North Sea, and the great level of the fens of Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire, Lincolnshire and Norfolk. The artificial draining of these marshes brought into existence a network of open drains or canals intersecting each other at right angles. In order to cross these without getting wet, and at the same time avoid tedious roundabout journeys over the bridges, a stack of jumping poles was kept at every house, which were commonly used for vaulting over the canals. In Friesland, where it is called fierljeppen, it has continued to be a folkloristic activity with annual competitions. Broad-jumping with the pole, though the original form of the sport, has never found its way into organized athletics, the high jump being the only form recognized.

Related Topics:
Friesland - The Netherlands - North Sea - Cambridgeshire - Huntingdonshire - Lincolnshire - Norfolk - Fierljeppen - Folkloristic

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Modern competitions probably began around 1850 in Germany, when it was added to the gymnastic exercises of the Turner by Johann C. F. GutsMuths and Frederich L. Jahn. The modern pole vaulting technique was developed in the United States at the end of the nineteenth century. In Great Britain it was first commonly practised at the Caledonian games. Initially, vaulting poles were made from stiff materials such as bamboo or aluminum, until the introduction of flexible vaulting poles made from composites such as fiberglass or carbon fiber. Physical attributes such as speed and agility are essential to pole vaulting effectively, but technical skill is an equally if not more important element. The object is to clear a bar or stick supported upon two uprights without knocking it down. While women's pole vault records were kept for many years, the event only started to gain popularity in the 1990s.

Related Topics:
1850 - Germany - Johann C. F. GutsMuths - Frederich L. Jahn - United States - Great Britain - Caledonian games - Bamboo - Aluminum - Composites - Fiberglass - Carbon fiber - 1990s

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