1988 Summer Olympics / Athletics - Pole Vault (Men)

sport	athletics
discipline	Pole vault
gender	Men
Attendees	21 athletes from 13 countries
Competition location	Seoul Olympic Stadium
Competition phase	September 26, 1988 (qualifying) September 28, 1988 (final)
Medalist Serhiy Bubka ( URS )   Rodion Gataullin ( URS )   Grigory Yegorov ( URS )

The men's pole vault at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul was held on September 26 and 28, 1988 in two rounds at the Seoul Olympic Stadium. 21 athletes took part.

There was a triple success for the Soviet Union. Serhiy Bubka won the competition ahead of Rodion Gataullin and Grigori Jegorow .

The Austrian Hermann Fehringer reached the final and was thirteenth.
Athletes from the Federal Republic of Germany, the GDR, Switzerland and Liechtenstein did not take part.

Current title holders

Olympic champion 1984	Pierre Quinon ( France )	5.75 m	Los Angeles 1984
World Champion 1987	Serhiy Bubka ( Soviet Union )	5.85 m	Rome 1987
European champion 1986		5.85 m	Stuttgart 1986
Pan American champion 1987	Mike Tully ( USA )	5.71 m	Indianapolis 1987
Central America and Caribbean Champion 1987	Miguel Saldarriaga ( Colombia )	5.05 m	Caracas 1987
South America Champion 1987	Oscar Veit ( Argentina )	5.25 m	São Paulo 1987
Asian champion 1987	Liang Xueren ( People's Republic of China )	5.35 m	Singapore 1987
African Champion 1988	Choukri Abahnini ( Tunisia )	4.90 m	Annaba 1988

Existing records

World record	6.06 m	Serhiy Bubka ( Soviet Union )	Nice , France	July 10, 1988
Olympic record	5.78 m	Władysław Kozakiewicz ( Poland )	Final of Moscow , Soviet Union (today Russia )	July 30, 1980

qualification

Date: September 26, 1988

The athletes were drawn into two groups for qualification. The qualification height for the direct entry into the final was 5.55 m. Not a single jumper had to try his hand at this height, the best value of two athletes was 5.50 m. Another participant mastered 5.45 m and so the 5.40 m jumped by twelve other starters was enough for the final. The athletes in the second group jumping later had already realized this. So the actual qualification level was no longer tackled by them after the 5.40 m had been mastered. The fifteen athletes who have qualified for the final are highlighted in light green.

Group A

space	Surname	nation	5.10 m	5.20 m	5.30 m	5.40 m	5.45 m	5.50 m	5.55 m	height	annotation
1	Serhiy Bubka	Soviet Union	-	-	-	-	-	O	-	5.50 m
	Rodion Gataullin	Soviet Union	-	-	-	-	-	O	-
3	Grigory Yegorov	Soviet Union	-	-	-	-	O	-	-	5.45 m
4th	Earl Bell	United States	-	-	-	O	-	-	x-	5.40 m
	Miroslaw Chmara	Poland	-	-	-	O	-	-	-
	Kory tarpenning	Great Britain	-	-	-	O	-	-	x-
7th	Philippe Collet	France	-	-	-	x o	-	-	-	5.40 m
	Hermann Fehringer	Austria	-	-	O	x o	-	-	x-
	Billy Olson	United States	-	-	-	x o	-	-	-
ogV	Atanas Tarew	Bulgaria	-	-	-	xxx					without height

Group B

space	Surname	nation	5.10 m	5.20 m	5.30 m	5.40 m	5.45 m	5.50 m	5.55 m	height	annotation
1	Marian Kolasa	Poland	-	-	-	O	-	-	-	5.40 m
2	Asko Peltoniemi	Finland	-	-	xxo	O	-	-	-	5.40 m
3	István Bagyula	Hungary	O	O	O	x o	-	-	-	5.40 m
	Philippe d'Encausse	France	-	O	-	x o	-	-	-
	Zdeněk Lubenský	Czechoslovakia	-	O	O	x o	-	-	-
6th	Thierry Vigneron	France	O	O	xo	x o	-	-	-	5.40 m
7th	Kim Chul-kyun	South Korea	xo	x o	xxx					5.20 m
ogV	Andy Ashurst	Great Britain	xxx								without height
	Javier García	Spain	xxx
	Lee Jae-bok	South Korea	xxx

final

Olympic champion Serhiy Bubka, USSR, in a photo from 1984

Date: September 28, 1988

Fifteen jumpers had qualified for the final. Three US jumpers, three French and three athletes from the Soviet Union were represented. The field was completed by two Poles and one participant each from Finland, Austria, Czechoslovakia and Hungary.

The top favorite was the Soviet world record holder , world and European champion Serhij Bubka. His sharpest rivals came with Vice World Champion Thierry Vigneron and Philippe Collet from France, with World Cup fourth Marian Kolasa from Poland, World Cup fifth Earl Bell from the USA and with World Cup third Rodion Gataullin from his own country.

Up to a height of 5.70 m, nine participants were eliminated, the two Poles Chmara and Kolasa had remained without a valid attempt. Collet, Vigneron and Bell failed at 5.75 m. It was therefore clear that all three medals would go to Soviet athletes. Grigori Jegorow jumped 5.80 m in the first attempt, Gataullin and Bubka skipped the height. Gataullin crossed 5.85 on his third jump, Jegorow and Bubka left out. Bubka mastered 5.90 m in the third attempt, Grigori Jegorow was eliminated and thus had bronze. Rodion Gataullin then failed at 5.95 m and won silver. Olympic champion Serhij Bubka refrained from further attempts. With his 5.90 m, a new Olympic record , the dominant pole vaulter of his time won the gold medal.

Serhiy Bubka was the first Olympic champion of the Soviet Union in the pole vault .

space	Surname	nation	5.10	5.25	5.40	5.50	5.60	5.65	5.70	5.75	5.80	5.85	5.90	5.95	Bottom line	annotation
1	Serhiy Bubka	Soviet Union	-	-	-	-	-	-	xo	-	-	-	xx o	-	5.90 m	OR
2	Rodion Gataullin	Soviet Union	-	-	-	-	-	-	O	-	-	xx o	-	xxx	5.85 m
3	Grigory Yegorov	Soviet Union	-	-	-	O	-	-	xo	-	O	-	xxx		5.80 m
4th	Earl Bell	United States	-	-	O	-	O	-	O	xxx					5.70 m
5	Philippe Collet	France	-	-	-	xo	-	-	x o	xxx					5.70 m
	Thierry Vigneron	France	-	xo	-	O	O	-	x o	x--
7th	István Bagyula	Hungary	O	O	O	O	O	xxx							5.60 m
8th	Philippe d'Encausse	France	-	-	O	x-	x o	-	xxx						5.60 m
9	Asko Peltoniemi	Finland	-	-	O	-	xx o	-	xxx						5.60 m
10	Kory tarpenning	United States	-	-	-	O	-	xxx							5.50 m
11	Zdeněk Lubenský	Czechoslovakia	-	xo	-	O	-	xxx							5.50 m
12	Billy Olson	United States	-	-	-	xx o	-	xxx							5.50 m
13	Hermann Fehringer	Austria	-	O	O	xxx									5.40 m
ogV	Miroslaw Chmara	Poland	-	-	-	-	xxx									without height
	Marian Kolasa	Poland	-	-	-	xxx

Web links

• SportsReference pole vault , accessed January 27, 2018
• Official report on the Olympic Games in Seoul Volume two, part two , athletics results: p. 242, English / French (PDF, 25.64 MB), accessed on January 27, 2018

Video

• Sergey Bubka's Gold Medal & Olympic Record - Seoul 1988 Olympics , published July 3, 2012 on youtube.com, accessed January 27, 2018

Individual evidence

1. ^ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Beijing 2015, page 677 , accessed on January 27, 2018
2. ↑ ^{a b} Official report on the Olympic Games in Seoul Volume two, part two , Athletics results: p. 242, English / French (PDF, 25.64 MB), accessed on January 27, 2018