Charles Hoff

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Charles Hoff

Charles Hoff (born May 9, 1902 in Fredrikstad , † February 19, 1985 ) was a Norwegian athlete who was active in the 1920s.

He became Norwegian champion five times:

year 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1933
Height (m) 3.28 (2.) 4.02 (1.) 4.01 (1.) 3.36 (1.) 4.10 (1.) 3.80 (1.)

He was also victorious in the 1922 British Open Championships with 3.66 m.

He set four world records in pole vault :

  • 4.12 m on September 3, 1922 in Copenhagen (improvement of the previous record of American Frank Foss by 3 cm)
  • 4.21 m on July 22, 1923 in Copenhagen
  • 4.23 m on August 13, 1925 in Oslo
  • 4.25 m on September 27, 1925 in Turku (improved in 1927 by Sabin Carr )

Charles Hoff was the first pole vaulter to use a puncture box (made of wood). He also coined a new style of jumping, which consisted in not folding down his legs until his hands let go of the stick.

Charles Hoff was also able to achieve remarkable results as a runner. Over 400 m he has 48.8 seconds and over 800 m 1: 56.7 minutes. These times he ran at the Olympic Games in Paris in 1924 , where he renounced the pole vault competition due to an injury and finished eighth over 800 m. However, his running appearances were by no means only sporadic. This is proven by a note published on January 18, 1926 in " Time ", from which it emerges that Hoff and three other Europeans, including the German Hubert Houben , accepted an invitation to participate in the American winter season with the intention of doing the pole vault Aiming at 14 feet and also competing over the middle distance .

Hoff's dazzling personality could not only be admired on the sports field, but also in the vaudeville , where he was of course rewarded for his performances. It came as it had to come - in keeping with the zeitgeist of the time: When he swung over 4.16 m in tails in spring 1926, he was declared a professional and was therefore no longer eligible to compete in the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sports: Enter Hoff. In: Time . January 18, 1926, accessed June 24, 2019 .
  2. ^ Frank Zarnowski: Olympic Glory Denied: A Final Opportunity for Glory Restored . 1st edition. Griffin Pub Group, Glendale, California 1996, ISBN 978-1-882180-70-7 , pp. 58 ff . (English).
personal data
SURNAME Hoff, Charles
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Norwegian athlete
DATE OF BIRTH May 9, 1902
PLACE OF BIRTH Fredrikstad
DATE OF DEATH 19th February 1985