1968 Summer Olympics / Athletics - Pole Vault (Men)

sport	athletics
discipline	Pole vault
gender	Men
Attendees	23 athletes from 15 countries
Competition location	Estadio Olímpico Universitario
Competition phase	October 14, 1968 (qualification) October 16, 1968 (final)
Medalist Bob Seagren ( USA )   Claus Schiprowski ( FRG )   Wolfgang Nordwig ( GDR )

The men's pole vault at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City was held on October 14 and 16, 1968 at the Estadio Olímpico Universitario . 23 athletes took part.

The American Bob Seagren became Olympic champion . Silver went to Claus Schiprowski from the Federal Republic of Germany, bronze went to Wolfgang Nordwig from the German Democratic Republic.

For the Federal Republic of Germany - officially Germany - started alongside silver medalists Schiprowski Heinfried Engel and Klaus Lehnertz . While Lehnertz failed to qualify, Engel qualified for the final, in which he was eighth.
The GDR - officially East Germany - was represented by bronze medalist Nordwig.
Heinz Wyss started for Switzerland, who failed in the qualification.
The Austrian Ingo Peyker did not make a valid height in the qualification.
Jumpers from Liechtenstein did not take part.

Existing records

World record	5.41 m	Bob Seagren ( USA )	Echo Summit , USA	September 12, 1968
Olympic record	5.10 m	Fred Hansen ( USA )	Tokyo finals , Japan	17th October 1964

Conducting the competition

The jumpers competed in two groups for a qualifying round on October 14th. The height for the direct qualification to the final on October 16 was 4.90 m. Since more than twelve athletes jumped this height, the final field did not have to be filled any further.

Time schedule

October 14, 10 a.m .: Qualification

October 16, 12.30 p.m .: Final

Note: All times are Mexico City local time ( UTC −6)

The directly qualified athletes are highlighted in light blue.

qualification

Date: October 14, 1968, from 10 a.m.

Group A

space	Surname	nation	4.20 m	4.30 m	4.40 m	4.50 m	4.60 m	4.70 m	4.75 m	4.80 m	4.85 m	4.90 m	height	annotation
1	Wolfgang Nordwig	GDR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	O	4.90 m
	John Pennel	United States
3	Hervé d'Encausse	France	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	O	-	O	4.90 m
	Christos Papanikolaou	Greece
	Claus Schiprowski	BR Germany
	Altti Alarotu	Finland	-	-	-	-	-	O	-	-	-	O	4.90 m
	Hennadij Blesnizow	Soviet Union	-	-	-	-	O	-	-	-	-	O	4.90 m
	Erkki Mustakari	Finland
9	Bob Seagren	United States	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	x o	4.90 m
10	Kjell Isaksson	Sweden	-	-	-	-	-	O	-	-	-	x o	4.90 m
11	Heinfried Engel	BR Germany	-	-	-	-	O	-	-	O	-	xx o	4.90 m
12	Casey Carrigan	United States	-	-	-	-	O	-	-	-	-	xxx	4.60 m

Group B

space	Surname	nation	4.20 m	4.30 m	4.40 m	4.50 m	4.60 m	4.70 m	4.75 m	4.80 m	4.85 m	4.90 m	height	annotation
1	Mike Bull	Great Britain	-	-	-	-	O	-	-	O	-	O	4.90 m
	Kiyoshi Niwa	Japan
	Ignacio Sola	Spain
4th	Alexander Malyutin	Soviet Union	-	-	xxo	O	-	O	-	xxo	-	O	4.90 m
5	Pantelis Nikolaidis	Greece	-	-	O	-	O	-	-	O	-	xxx	4.80 m
6th	Enrico Barney	Argentina	O	O	-	xo	O	xxo	-	O	-	xxx	4.80 m
7th	Klaus Lehnertz	BR Germany	-	-	O	-	O	-	O	-	xxx		4.75 m
8th	John-Erik Blomqvist	Sweden	-	-	-	-	O	-	xx o	-	-	xxx	4.75 m
9	Wu Ah-min	Taiwan	O	O	-	O	xxx						4.50 m
10	Heinz Wyss	Switzerland	-	xo	-	O	-	xxx					4.50 m
ogV	Ingo Peyker	Austria	-	-	-	-	xxx							without height

final

Date: October 14, 1968, 12:30 p.m.

Wolfgang Nordwig, GDR, winner of the bronze medal

The development in pole vault had continued at a rapid pace since the last few games. 5.10 m were four years ago in Tokyo for Fred Hansen was necessary to become Olympic champion. In the meantime, the US jumper Bob Seagren had set the world record to 5.41 m and there were other athletes who could come up with top performances in the range between 5.30 m and 5.40 m. So the favorites field was pretty big. In addition to Seagren, u. a. also his compatriot John Pennel, the East German Wolfgang Nordwig, the Greek Christos Papanikolaou and the French Hervé d'Encausse.
The seven-hour final remained open for a long time, the level was even higher than expected and some jumpers made enormous personal improvements. After 5.30 m there were still seven athletes in the race. Two of them, the French d'Encausse and Blesnizow from the USSR, failed at 5.35 m. So at the next height of 5.40 m there were still five jumpers fighting for the medals. Pennel and Papanikolaou failed here three times. Pennel's second jump would have been valid today. According to the rules at the time, the attempt was only invalid because the stick had fallen under the crossbar - a relic from the time when the sticks were longer than the heights to be jumped over. Seagren and the German Claus Schiprowski, who had arrived with a best performance of 5.18 m, each jumped the height in the second attempt, Nordwig mastered it in the third.

All three remaining jumpers failed at the new world record height of 5.45 m. Because of the failed attempt rule, Bob Seagren - two cracked jumps - became Olympic champion. Claus Schiprowski, who had three failed attempts in the course of the competition, won the silver medal and Wolfgang Nordwig came third.

There was also a US victory in the 16th Olympic final. It was the 17th gold medal for the USA in this discipline - in 1908 there had been two gold medals.

space	Surname	nation	4.40 m	4.60 m	4.80 m	4.90 m	5.00 m	5.05 m	5.10 m	5.15 m	5.20 m	5.25 m	5.30 m	5.35 m	5.40 m	5.45 m	Bottom line	annotation
1	Bob Seagren	United States	-	-	-	-	-	O	-	-	xo	-	O	-	x o	xxx	5.40 m	OR
2	Claus Schiprowski	BR Germany	-	-	-	O	O	-	O	-	O	xo	O	xo	x o	xxx	5.40 m	OR
3	Wolfgang Nordwig	GDR	-	-	-	-	xo	-	-	-	O	-	O	O	xx o	xxx	5.40 m	OR
4th	Christos Papanikolaou	Greece	-	-	O	-	O	-	-	O	-	xo	xo	O	xxx		5.35 m
5	John Pennel	United States	-	-	-	-	-	O	-	-	xo	-	xo	xx o	xxx		5.35 m
6th	Hennadij Blesnizow	Soviet Union	-	O	-	O	-	-	O	-	O	-	x o	xxx			5.30 m
7th	Hervé d'Encausse	France	-	-	-	-	O	-	-	xo	-	O	-	xxx			5.25 m
8th	Heinfried Engel	BR Germany	-	-	O	-	xxo	-	xo	-	O	xxx					5.20 m
9	Ignacio Sola	Spain	-	-	xo	-	O	-	xo	O	xx o	xxx					5.20 m
10	Kjell Isaksson	Sweden	-	-	-	O	-	xo	-	O	xxx						5.15 m
11	Kiyoshi Niwa	Japan	-	-	O	O	O	-	O	x o	| xxx						5.15 m
12	Alexander Malyutin	Soviet Union	-	O	-	O	O	-	xxx								5.00 m
13	Mike Bull	Great Britain	-	-	xo	O	x o	-	xxx								5.00 m
14th	Altti Alarotu	Finland	-	-	-	-	xx o	-	-								5.00 m
ogV	Erkki Mustakari	Finland	-	-	xxx													without height

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 2: 1948–1968, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 1st edition 1969, pp. 358–360

Video

• Bob Seagren Wins High Jump Gold - Classic Moments - Mexico City 1968 Olympic Film , areas 6:05 min to 7:02 min / 7:34 min to 8:38 min / 10:19 min to 49 min, released July 3rd 2014 from youtube.com, accessed November 8, 2017

Web links

• SportsReference Pole Vault , accessed November 8, 2017
• Official report - summary pp. 90–93, English / French. (PDF), accessed on November 8, 2017
• Official report of the Olympic Games 1968 p. 527, English / French. (PDF), accessed on November 8, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Berlin 2009 Page 555 (Engl.) ( Memento of 29 June 2011 at the Internet Archive ) retrieved on November 8, 2017
2. ↑ Official report of the 1968 Olympic Games ( Memento of the original from September 17, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. P. 10, English / French (PDF), accessed on November 8, 2017 
3. ↑ ^{a b} Official Report of the 1968 Olympic Games ( Memento of the original from September 17, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. P. 527, engl./frz. (PDF), accessed on November 8, 2017 
4. ↑ SportsReference , accessed November 8, 2017