1948 Summer Olympics / Athletics - Pole Vault (Men)

sport	athletics
discipline	Pole vault
gender	Men
Attendees	19 athletes from 10 countries
Competition location	Wembley Stadium
Competition phase	July 31, 1948 (qualification) August 2, 1948 (final)
Medalist Guinn Smith ( USA )   Erkki Kataja ( FIN )   Bob Richards ( USA )

The men's pole vault at the 1948 Olympic Games in London was held on July 31 and August 2, 1948 at Wembley Stadium . 19 athletes took part. For the first time at the Olympic Games, the number of unsuccessful attempts at the same level decided the placement.

The American Guinn Smith became Olympic champion . He won ahead of the Finn Erkki Kataja and the American Bob Richards .

Existing records

• World record : 4.77 s - Cornelius Warmerdam ( USA ), Modesto , May 23, 1942
• Olympic record : 4.35 s - Earle Meadows ( USA ), Olympic final in Berlin , August 5, 1932

Conducting the competition

Participants competed in a qualifying round on July 31. 4.00 meters were required as a qualification height. All jumpers who made this height qualified for the final on August 2nd.

Note: The qualified athletes are highlighted in light blue.

qualification

space	Surname	nation	height	annotation
1	José Barbosa	Puerto Rico	4.00 m
1	Hugo Göllors	Sweden	4.00 m
1	Erling Kaas	Norway	4.00 m
1	Erkki Kataja	Finland	4.00 m
1	Allan Lindberg	Sweden	4.00 m
1	Ragnar Lundberg	Sweden	4.00 m
1	Boo Morcom	United States	4.00 m
1	Valto Olenius	Finland	4.00 m
1	Bob Richards	United States	4.00 m
1	Victor Sillon	France	4.00 m
1	Guinn Smith	United States	4.00 m
1	José Vicente	Puerto Rico	4.00 m
13	Georges Breitman	France	3.90 m
14th	Theodosios Balafas	Greece	3.80 m
14th	Torfi Bryngeirsson	Iceland	3.80 m
16	Luis Ganoza	Peru	3.70 m
17th	Charles Bouvet	France	3.60 m
17th	Jaime Piqueras	Peru	3.60 m
17th	Richard Webster	Great Britain	3.60 m

July 31, 1948, 11 a.m.

The order and series of experiments are unknown.

final

space	Surname	nation	result	3.95 m	4.10 m	4.20 m	4.30 m
1	Guinn Smith	United States	4.30 m	xo	xo	O	xxo
2	Erkki Kataja	Finland	4.30 m	O	O	O	xxx
3	Bob Richards	United States	4.20 m	O	xo	xo	xxx
4th	Erling Kaas	Norway	4.10 m	O	O	xxx
5	Ragnar Lundberg	Sweden	4.10 m	O	xxo	xxx
6th	Boo Morcom	United States	3.95 m	O	-	xxx
7th	Hugo Göllors	Sweden	3.95 m	xo
	Valto Olenius	Finland	3.95 m	xo
9	José Barbosa	Puerto Rico	3.95 m	xxo
	Victor Sillon	France	3.95 m	xxo
	José Vicente	Puerto Rico	3.95 m	xxo
12	Allan Lindberg	Sweden	3.80 m	xxx

August 2, 1948, 2:30 p.m.

The US jumpers Boo Morcom, Bob Richards and Guinn Smith were favorites. Morcom, reigning US champion and Olympic elimination winner, were given the best chance. But he suffered from an ankle injury and only came in sixth. The competition, which took place in the rain, developed into a three-way battle between Smith, Richards and the Finn Erkki Kataja. The three athletes had jumped 4.20 m and according to the newly introduced rule of multiple attempts, Kataja was ahead. Smith was the only one to reach the 4.30 m in the last attempt, while Kataja and Richards failed. After a failed attempt over 4.40 m, Smith abandoned the competition because of the pouring rain. The Finn won silver and Bob Richards, gold medalist at the next two Olympic Games in 1952 and 1956 , came third.

In the eleventh Olympic competition, Guinn Smith jumped to the twelfth US gold medal - in 1908 there had been two US winners.
In the Olympic pole vault 39 medals were awarded in eleven competitions, of which US jumpers alone won 26.
In 1896 there were two third places, in 1908 two winners and three bronze medalists, in 1912 two silver and three bronze medals.
Erkki Kataja won the first Finnish medal in the pole vault.

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 2: 1948–1968, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 1st edition 1969, p. 33f

Web links

• SportsReference pole vault , accessed August 21, 2017
• Official report p. 268, engl. (PDF), accessed on August 21, 2017
• London 1948 (GUINN SMITH) Pole Vault (amateur footage) , published June 9, 2016 on youtube.com, accessed August 21, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ^ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Berlin 2009 page 555 ( Memento from June 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
2. ^ Official report "Athletic Timetable" p. 240, engl. (PDF)
3. ^ Official report "Athletic Timetable" p. 240, engl. (PDF)
4. ↑ SportsReference (Eng.)