1972 Summer Olympics / Athletics - Pole Vault (Men)

sport	athletics
discipline	Pole vault
gender	Men
Attendees	21 athletes from 12 countries
Competition location	Olympic Stadium Munich
Competition phase	September 1, 1972 (qualification) September 2, 1972 (final)
Medalist Wolfgang Nordwig ( GDR )   Bob Seagren ( USA )   Jan Johnson ( USA )

The men's pole vault at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich was held on September 1 and 2, 1972 in the Munich Olympic Stadium. 21 athletes took part.

Olympic champion was Wolfgang Nordwig from the GDR. The silver medal went to the American Olympic champion from 1968 Bob Seagren , bronze went to his compatriot Jan Johnson .

Reinhard Kuretzky and Volker Ohl started for the Federal Republic of Germany - officially Germany - and both reached the final. Kuretzky was fourth, Ohl sixth.
Apart from Olympic champion Wolfgang Nordwig, no other pole vaulters took part for the GDR.
Jumpers from Switzerland, Austria and Liechtenstein did not take part.

Existing records

World record	5.63 m	Bob Seagren ( USA )	Eugene , USA	2nd July 1972
Olympic record	5.40 m	Bob Seagren ( USA )	Mexico City Final , Mexico	October 16, 1968
		Claus Schiprowski ( FR Germany )
		Wolfgang Nordwig ( GDR )

Conducting the competition

The jumpers competed in two groups for a qualifying round on September 1st. The qualification height for the direct entry into the final was 5.10 m. Since fewer than twelve athletes jumped this height, the final field was filled to at least twelve participants according to the next best heights. The final was held on September 2nd.

Time schedule

September 1st, 10:00 a.m .: Qualification
September 2nd, 1:00 p.m .: Final

The directly qualified athletes are highlighted in light blue, the following athletes in light green.

Material controversy

Before the competition in Munich, several European associations tried to ensure that the light new sticks from the United States, so-called catapult sticks , should not be approved for the Olympic Games because they had not been on the market long enough for all Olympic participants to use them could have trained. On July 25, 1972, the IAAF declared these wands to be inadmissible. The carbon rods were only used by American athletes or athletes who trained in the USA - here the Swede Kjell Isaksson was particularly affected. The European athletes, especially the athletes from Eastern Europe, had no experience with the new bars. The main reason for the ban on the new wands was not the material used, but the fact that these wands were not available to all participants in the past twelve months.

The ban was lifted by the IAAF on August 27. However, the repeal was reversed on August 30th. All carbon rods that the athletes brought to Munich were withdrawn.

qualification

Date: September 1, 1972, from 10 a.m.

Group A

space	Surname	nation	4.80 m	5.00 m	5.10 m	height	annotation
1	Antti Kalliomäki	Finland	-	-	O	5.10 m
	Wolfgang Nordwig	GDR
3	Hervé d'Encausse	France	-	O	O	5.10 m
4th	Bob Seagren	United States	-	-	x o	5.10 m
5	Hans Lagerqvist	Sweden	-	O	x o	5.10 m
6th	Volker Ohl	BR Germany	O	O	x o	5.10 m
7th	Jan Johnson	United States	-	xo	x o	5.10 m
8th	Christos Papanikolaou	Greece	xxo	x o	xxx	5.00 m
9	Steve Smith	United States	xx o	xxx		4.80 m
ogV	Renato Dionisi	Italy	xxx				without height
	Kjell Isaksson	Sweden	-	xxx

Group B

space	Surname	nation	4.80 m	5.00 m	5.10 m	height	annotation
1	Bruce Simpson	Canada	-	O	O	5.10 m
2	Reinhard Kuretzky	BR Germany	O	O	O	5.10 m
3	François Tracanelli	France	-	-	x o	5.10 m
4th	Tadeusz Ślusarski	Poland	-	O	xxx	5.00 m
5	Wojciech Buciarski	Poland	-	x o	xxx	5.00 m
6th	Ingemar Jernberg	Sweden	xo	xx o	xxx	5.00 m
7th	Silvio Fraquelli	Italy	O	xxx		4.80 m
8th	Ray Boyd	Australia	x o	xxx		4.80 m
	Mike Bull	United Kingdom
ogV	Kirk Bryde	Canada	xxx				without height
DNS	Abass Goudiaby	Senegal

final

Date: September 2, 1972, 1 p.m.

The Staff Controversy - p. o. - and the related ban on the new baton from the USA had an impact on the competition. Ex- world record holder Kjell Isaksson from Sweden, who trained in the USA, failed to make a valid attempt in qualifying.
The fight for the medals started in the final at 5.35 m. Four jumpers were still in the race: the 1968 Olympic champion Bob Seagren, USA, the 1968 bronze medalist Wolfgang Nordwig from the GDR, Jan Johnson, USA, and Reinhard Kuretzky, Germany. Nordwig and Seagren climbed the top on the first attempt, Johnson on the second. Kuretzky failed and was eliminated. This time Jan Johnson was 5.40 m tall, only Nordwig and Seagren remained in the competition. The height of 5.40 m was taken by Nordwig in the second and by Seagren in the third attempt. Nordwig conquered the next height - 5.45 m - with his first jump, while Bob Seagren failed three times. Wolfgang Nordwig then set a new Olympic record with 5.50 m . He then had 5.56 m hung up, but could no longer cope with this height.

In the 17th Olympic final, a non-US athlete won the pole vault for the first time .

• 

  Olympic champion Wolfgang Nordwig (GDR)

• 

  Wojciech Buciarski, Poland

space	Surname	nation	4.80 m	5.00 m	5.10 m	5.20 m	5.30 m	5.35 m	5.40 m	5.45 m	5.50 m	5.56 m	Bottom line	annotation
1	Wolfgang Nordwig	GDR	-	-	O	-	xo	O	xo	O	xx o	xxx	5.50 m	OR
2	Bob Seagren	United States	-	-	-	O	-	O	xx o	xxx			5.40 m
3	Jan Johnson	United States	-	-	-	O	-	x o	xxx				5.35 m
4th	Reinhard Kuretzky	BR Germany	O	xo	xxo	O	O	xxx					5.30 m
5	Bruce Simpson	Canada	-	O	xxo	O	xxx						5.20 m
6th	Volker Ohl	BR Germany	-	-	xo	O	xxx						5.20 m
7th	Hans Lagerqvist	Sweden	-	xo	O	O	xxx						5.20 m
8th	François Tracanelli	France	-	-	O	xxx							5.10 m
9	Ingemar Jernberg	Sweden	-	xxo	x o	xxx							5.10 m
10	Wojciech Buciarski	Poland	-	O	xxx								5.00 m
11	Christos Papanikolaou	Greece	O	O	xxx								5.00 m
ogV	Hervé d'Encausse	France	-	-	xxx									without height
	Antti Kalliomäki	Finland	-	-	-	xxx
	Tadeusz Ślusarski	Poland	-	xxx

literature

• Werner Schneider / Sport-Informations-Dienst / Bertelsmann Sportredaktion, The Olympic Games 1972. Munich - Kiel - Sapporo, Bertelsmann-Verlag, Munich, Gütersloh, Vienna 1972, ISBN 3-570-04559-5 , p. 42f

Video

• The Highest - Arthur Penn , pole vault impressions from the 1972 Olympic final in Munich, published on October 4, 2010 on youtube.com, accessed on November 29, 2017

Web links

• SportsReference pole vault , accessed November 29, 2017
• Official report, Volume 3 "The competitions" , p. 60, English / French / German (PDF, 28 MB), accessed on November 29, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Berlin 2009 Page 555 (Engl.) ( Memento of 29 June 2011 at the Internet Archive ), accessed on November 29, 2017
2. ↑ Official Report, Volume 3 "The competitions" ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2007 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. 43, English / French / German (PDF, 28 MB), accessed on November 29, 2017 
3. ↑ SportsReference , accessed November 29, 2017
4. ↑ ^{a b} Official Report, Volume 3 "The competitions" ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2007 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. 60, English / French / German (PDF, 28 MB), accessed on November 29, 2017 
5. ↑ SportsReference , accessed November 29, 2017