2008 Summer Olympics / Athletics - Pole Vault (Men)

sport	athletics
discipline	Pole vault
gender	Men
place	Beijing National Stadium
Attendees	38 athletes from 26 countries
Competition phase	20./22. August 2008
Medalist
gold	Steve Hooker ( AUS )
silver	Yevgeny Lukyanenko ( RUS )
bronze	Derek Miles ( USA )

The pole vault at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing was held on August 20 and 22, 2008. 38 athletes took part.

The Olympic champion was the Australian Steve Hooker . The Russian Yevgeny Lukyanenko won the silver medal . Bronze went to Derek Miles from the United States.

Current title holders

Olympic champion 2004	Timothy Mack ( USA )	5.95 m	Athens 2004
World Champion 2007	Brad Walker ( USA )	5.86 m	Osaka 2007
European champion 2006	Alexander Awerbuch ( Israel )	5.70 m	Gothenburg 2006
Pan American Champion 2007	Fábio da Silva ( Brazil )	5.40 m	Rio de Janeiro 2007
Central America and Caribbean champions 2008	Lázaro Borges ( Cuba )	5.50 m	Cali 2008
South America Champion 2007	Fábio da Silva ( Brazil )	5.77 m	São Paulo 2007
Asian champion 2007	Mohsen Rabbani ( Iran )	5.35 m	Amman 2007
Africa Champion 2008	Mouhsin Cheouari ( Morocco )	4.80 m	Addis Ababa 2008
Oceania Champion 2008	Pole vault not in the championship program		Saipan 2008

Existing records

World record	6.14 m	Serhij Bubka ( Ukraine )	Sestriere , Italy	July 27, 1993
Olympic record	5.95 m	Timothy Mack ( USA )	Athens Final , Greece	July 28, 1996

qualification

August 20, 2008, 8:40 p.m.

The qualification was carried out in two groups. Due to the development of the heights skipped by the participants in the qualification, as in the high jump, not a single jumper even reached the required qualification height . The best twelve or initially thirteen starters from both qualification groups reached the final (highlighted in light green) because two were tied here. After all, it was 5.65 m necessary to take part in the final, regardless of the number of failed attempts.

In the end, only twelve athletes were rated, because the Ukrainian Denys Yurchenko was stripped of his placements on August 20, 2014 for doping abuse .

Group A

The American world champion Brad Walker is eliminated without any valid attempt

space	Surname	nation	5.15 m	5.30 m	5.45 m	5.55 m	5.65 m	height	annotation
1	Igor Pavlov	Russia	-	-	O	-	O	5.65
2	Leonid Andreyev	Uzbekistan	-	O	O	O	xo	5.65
	Jérôme Clavier	France	-	O	-	O	xo
	Raphael Holzdeppe	Germany	-	-	O	O	xo
5	Jan Kudlička	Czech Republic	O	O	-	xo	xo	5.65
6th	Dmitri Starodubtsev	Russia	-	xo	-	xxo	xo	5.65
7th	Paul Burgess	Australia	-	-	O	xo	xxx	5.55
	Maksym Masuryk	Ukraine	-	-	O	xo	xxx
9	Jeff Hartwig	United States	-	-	O	xxo	xxx	5.55
	Liu Feiliang	People's Republic of China	-	O	O	xxo	xxx
11	Jesper Fritz	Sweden	-	xo	O	xxx		5.45
12	Giovanni Lanaro	Mexico	-	-	xo	xxx		5.45
13	Jurij Rovan	Slovenia	xx-	O	xxx			5.35
ogV	Germán Chiaraviglio	Argentina	-	xxx					without height
	Iliyan Efremov	Bulgaria	xxx
	Kim Yoosuk	South Korea	-	xxx
	Steven Lewis	Great Britain	-	-	xxx
	Brad Walker	United States	-	-	-	-	xxx
DOP	Denys Yurchenko	Ukraine	-	-	O	-	xo	5.65	in the final, later disqualified

Group B

The German Tim Lobinger does not reach the final with a skipped 5.55 m

space	Surname	nation	5.15 m	5.30 m	5.45 m	5.55 m	5.65 m	height	annotation
1	Yevgeny Lukyanenko	Russia	-	-	-	O	O	5.65
2	Przemysław Czerwiński	Poland	-	-	O	xo	xo	5.65	PBe
3	Danny Ecker	Germany	-	-	xxo	-	xo	5.65
	Derek Miles	United States	-	-	O	xxo	xo
5	Steve Hooker	Australia	-	-	-	-	xxo	5.65
6th	Giuseppe Gibilisco	Italy	-	-	xo	O	xxo	5.65
7th	Alhaji Jeng	Sweden	-	-	-	O	xxx	5.55
	Romain Mesnil	France	-	-	-	O	xxx
9	Tim Lobinger	Germany	-	-	O	xo	xxx	5.55
	Daichi Sawano	Japan	-	-	O	xo	xxx
11	Oleksandr Korchmid	Ukraine	-	-	O	xxx		5.45
	Mikko Latvala	Finland	-	-	O	-	xxx
13	Buhalov spas	Bulgaria	-	-	xo	-	xxx	5.45
	Fábio da Silva	Brazil	-	-	xo	xxx
15th	Alexander Awerbuch	Israel	-	-	xxo	-	xxx	5.45
	Kevin Rans	Belgium	-	O	xxo	xxx
17th	Štěpán Janáček	Czech Republic	O	O	-	xxx		5.30
	Dominic Johnson	St. Lucia	-	O	xxx
ogV	Lázaro Borges	Cuba	-	xxx					without height

final

August 22, 2008, 7:55 pm

Thirteen athletes had initially qualified for the final, twelve of whom were ultimately included in the ranking, because Ukrainian Denys Yurchenko was stripped of his bronze medal on August 20, 2014 for proven doping abuse . His involvement is therefore excluded from the rest of the description. Since nobody had even approached the qualifying height of 5.75 m, all pole vaulters who had jumped 5.65 m reached this final battle.

Opposite each other were three Russians, two Germans and one participant each from Australia, France, Italy, Poland, the USA, the Czech Republic and Uzbekistan.

There was a slightly larger circle of favorites who were eligible for the medals. Among them were the reigning world champion and vice world champion from 2005 Brad Walker from the United States, the Israeli European champion Alexander Awerbuch, the French vice world champion and European Championship third Romain Mesnil as well as the two Germans Danny Ecker as World Championship third and Tim Lobinger as Vice European Champion. Surprisingly, World Champion Walker and Vice European Champion Lobinger were already eliminated in the qualification.

The competition soon turned into a festival of failed attempts. Time and again, even the strongest athletes in the end had to make three attempts to reach the required height. When the bar was raised to 5.70 m, there were still eight participants in the competition. They had jumped 5.60 m, only Ecker had skipped this height. Except for the Russian Igor Pavlov and the Australian Steve Hooker, all athletes tackled the new jump height. Only the Russian Yevgeny Lukyanenko was successful with his first attempt, the American Derek Miles and the Russian Dmitri Starodubzew made it with their second jumps, Danny Ecker with his third. Holzdeppe and the French Jérôme Clavier tore three times and dropped out.

Only Ecker and Pawlow tried their hand at 5.75 m. Both were eliminated here. It was therefore clear that Danny Ecker, who had conquered 5.70 m, was fifth. Jérôme Clavier was sixth, Raphael Holzdeppe seventh ahead of Igor Pawlow. These three had to stand 5.60 m each.

Now 5.80 m were laid. Lukjanenko took the altitude straight away, Hooker on the third attempt. Dmitri Starodubzew tore three times and was fourth with his 5.70 m. He had two more failed attempts than Derek Miles, who also failed at 5.80 m, but with his 5.70 m jumped the bronze medal. Both jumpers remaining in the competition needed three attempts each for 5.85 m. The decision about gold and silver had to be made between Hooker and Lukjanenko. Hooker also managed the following height of 5.90 m with his third jump, while Yevgeny Lukjanenko tore three times and thus won silver - 5.85 m was his final result. In the excitement of the certain Olympic victory, Steve Hooker now set the new Olympic record height of 5.96 m. In an almost familiar manner, he had two failed attempts before he improved the record set by the American Timothy Mack by an inch in 2004 .

Steve Hooker was the first Olympic gold medalist for Australia in the pole vault .

space	Surname	nation	5.45 m	5.60 m	5.70 m	5.75 m	5.80 m	5.85 m	5.90 m	5.96 m	Bottom line	annotation
1	Steve Hooker	Australia	-	O	-	-	xxo	xxo	xxo	xxo	5.96	OR
2	Yevgeny Lukyanenko	Russia	-	xxo	O	-	O	xxo	xxx		5.85
3	Derek Miles	United States	O	xxo	xo	-	xxx				5.70
4th	Dmitri Starodubtsev	Russia	xxo	xxo	xo	-	xxx				5.70
5	Danny Ecker	Germany	xo	-	xxo	xxx					5.70
6th	Jérôme Clavier	France	xo	O	xxx						5.60
7th	Raphael Holzdeppe	Germany	O	xo	xxx						5.60
8th	Igor Pavlov	Russia	-	xxo	-	xxx					5.60
9	Jan Kudlička	Czech Republic	O	xxx							5.45
10	Przemysław Czerwiński	Poland	xo	xxx							5.45
ogV	Leonid Andreyev	Uzbekistan	xxx									without height
	Giuseppe Gibilisco	Italy	xxx
DOP	Denys Yurchenko	Ukraine	xxo	xo	O	-	-	-	-	-	5.70	Got off after 5.70 m due to injury

• 

  Olympic Champion Steve Hooker, Australia

• 

  Silver medalist Yevgeny Lukyanenko from Russia

• 

  The German Danny Ecker is fifth

• 

  Sixth place for the French Jérôme Clavier

• 

  The German Raphael Holzdeppe is Olympic 7th

• 

  Pole Przemysław Czerwiński finished tenth

• 

  The Italian Giuseppe Gibilisco failed to make a valid attempt in the final

Web links

• SportsReference Pole Vault , accessed June 8, 2018
• Results on the IAAF website , accessed June 8, 2018
• Official Report of the XXVIIIth Olympiad, Results Athletics , English / French (PDF, 3054 KB), accessed on June 7, 2018

Video

• Athletics - Men's Pole Vault Final - Beijing 2008 Summer Olympic Games , published August 22, 2008 on youtube.com, accessed June 7, 2018

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Campeonato CAC de Atletismo 2008 on athlecac.org, accessed on June 8, 2018
2. ↑ Campeonato Sudamericano de Atletismo 2007 on athlecac.org, accessed on June 8, 2018
3. ↑ 17th Asian Athletics Championship 2007 ( Memento of the original from July 14, 2017 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. at athleticsasia.org (PDF, 417 KB), accessed June 8, 2018 
4. ↑ Oceania Area Championships - 25/06/2008 to 28/06/2008 on athletics-oceania.com (PDF, 130 KB), accessed on June 8, 2018
5. ^ IAAF world records, men's pole vault , accessed on June 8, 2018
6. ↑ ^{a b} thestar.com: Canada's Dylan Armstrong finally gets 2008 Beijing Olympics bronze medal after doping DQ (English) , accessed on June 8, 2018