# Athletics at the 1952 Summer Olympics – Men's pole vault

The men's pole vault was an event at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. Twenty-eight athletes from 18 nations competed. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The final was held on Tuesday July 22, 1952. The event was won by Bob Richards of the United States, the nation's 12th consecutive victory in the men's pole vault. Another American, Don Laz, took silver. Ragnar Lundberg's bronze was Sweden's first medal in the event since 1912.

## Summary

Bob Richards was the returning bronze medalist. His closest domestic competitor was Don Laz, who shared the US championship earlier in the year after 4 years of Richards dominance. In the final both remained clean to 4.40m, just ahead of Ragnar Lundberg and Petro Denysenko, who each had one miss earlier. Lundberg had passed at 4.10m, which became significant because neither could go any higher. While modern rules would make that a tie, in that era, the third tiebreaker was the number of attempts, which gave Lundberg the bronze medal. Both Richards and Laz cleared the next height, 4.50m on their second attempts, still tied. They remained tied to their final attempt at 4.60 m (15 ft 1 in) when Laz missed and Richards cleared it to take his first gold medal.
Richards was only the second man to win multiple medals in the pole vault. He would go on to defend the championship four years later, jumping 1 cm higher and went on to Wheaties box fame. No other man has defended the pole vault title, though Yelena Isinbayeva defended the women's title in 2008. Richards is also the only man to win three medals in the event (Isinbayeva is the only woman to do so).

## Background

This was the 12th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Half of the finalists from the 1948 Games returned: silver medalist Erkki Kataja of Finland, bronze medalist Bob Richards of the United States, fourth-place finisher Erling Kaas of Norway, fifth-place finisher Ragnar Lundberg of Sweden, seventh-place finisher Valto Olenius of Finland, and ninth-place finisher José Vicente of Puerto Rico. Richards was the favorite in Helsinki after four wins at the AAU championships from 1949 to 1952 (the last tied with Don Laz). The most significant challenger to the Americans was European champion Ragnar Lundberg of Sweden.
Egypt, Romania, the Soviet Union, and Switzerland each made their first appearance in the event. The United States made its 12th appearance, the only nation to have competed at every Olympic men's pole vault to that point.

## Competition format

The competition used the two-round format introduced in 1912, with results cleared between rounds. Vaulters received three attempts at each height. Ties were broken by the countback rule; at the time, total attempts was used after total misses.
In the qualifying round, the bar was set at 3.60 metres, 3.80 metres, 3.90 metres, and 4.00 metres. All vaulters clearing 4.00 metres advanced to the final.
In the final, the bar was set at 3.60 metres, 3.80 metres, 3.95 metres, 4.10 metres, 4.20 metres, 4.30 metres, 4.40 metres, 4.50 metres, 4.55 metres, and 4.60 metres.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | Cornelius Warmerdam (USA) | 4.77 | Modesto, United States | 23 May 1942 |
| Olympic record | Earle Meadows (USA) | 4.35 | Berlin, Germany | 5 August 1936 |
Bob Richards, Don Laz, Ragnar Lundberg, and Petro Denysenko all cleared 4.40 metres to break the Olympic record. Richards and Laz extended the record to 4.50 metres. Only Richards was able to clear 4.55 metres, the new Olympic record at the end of the Games.

## Schedule

All times are Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+3)
The final took nearly 6 hours.
| Date | Time | Round |
| Monday, 21 July 1952 | 15:00 | Qualifying |
| Tuesday, 22 July 1952 | 15:00 | Final |

## Results

Key
* o = Height cleared
* x = Height failed
* – = Height passed
* r = Retired
* SB = Season's best
* PB = Personal best
* NR = National record
* AR = Area record
* OR = Olympic record
* WR = World record
* WL = World lead
* NM = No mark
* DNS = Did not start
* DQ = Disqualified

### Qualifying round

Qualification Criteria: Qualifying Performance 4.00 m advance to the Final.
| Rank | Group | Athlete | Nation | 3.60 | 3.80 | 3.90 | 4.00 | Height | Notes |
| 1 | A | Petro Denysenko | Soviet Union | — | — | o | o | 4.00 | Q |
| 1 | A | Tamás Homonnay | Hungary | — | — | o | o | 4.00 | Q |
| 1 | B | Erkki Kataja | Finland | — | — | o | o | 4.00 | Q |
| 1 | B | Ragnar Lundberg | Sweden | — | — | o | o | 4.00 | Q |
| 1 | B | Jukka Piironen | Finland | — | — | o | o | 4.00 | Q |
| 6 | A | Zeno Dragomir | Romania | — | o | o | o | 4.00 | Q |
| 6 | B | Don Laz | United States | — | o | o | o | 4.00 | Q |
| 6 | B | Lennart Lind | Sweden | — | o | o | o | 4.00 | Q |
| 6 | B | George Mattos | United States | — | o | o | o | 4.00 | Q |
| 6 | B | Bob Richards | United States | — | o | o | o | 4.00 | Q |
| 11 | A | Rigas Efstathiadis | Greece | ? | ? | ? | o | 4.00 | Q, one miss before 4.00 |
| 11 | B | Erling Kaas | Norway | ? | ? | ? | o | 4.00 | Q, one miss before 4.00 |
| 13 | B | Valto Olenius | Finland | — | — | — | xo | 4.00 | Q |
| 14 | B | Viktor Knyazev | Soviet Union | — | — | o | xo | 4.00 | Q |
| 15 | A | Volodymyr Brazhnyk | Soviet Union | — | o | o | xo | 4.00 | Q |
| 16 | A | Theodosios Balafas | Greece | o | o | o | xo | 4.00 | Q |
| 16 | A | Torfy Bryngeirsson | Iceland | o | o | o | xo | 4.00 | Q |
| 18 | B | Bunkichi Sawada | Japan | — | ? | ? | xo | 4.00 | Q, one miss before 4.00 |
| 19 | B | Milan Milakov | Yugoslavia | — | o | o | xxo | 4.00 | Q |
| 20 | A | Walter Hofstetter | Switzerland | ? | ? | o | xxx | 3.90 | One miss before 3.90 |
| 21 | B | Ron Miller | Canada | — | o | xo | xxx | 3.90 | |
| 22 | A | Tim Anderson | Great Britain | o | o | xxx | — | 3.80 | |
| 22 | A | Geoff Elliott | Great Britain | o | o | xxx | — | 3.80 | |
| 22 | B | Zenon Ważny | Poland | o | o | xxx | — | 3.80 | |
| 25 | A | Hélcio da Silva | Brazil | o | xxx | — | — | 3.60 | |
| 26 | A | Gamal El-Din El-Sherbini | Egypt | xxo | xxx | — | — | 3.60 | |
| — | B | Georgios Roubanis | Greece | xxx | — | — | — | No mark | |
| — | B | José Vicente | Puerto Rico | xxx | — | — | — | No mark | |

### Final

The final was held on July 22.
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | 3.60 | 3.80 | 3.95 | 4.10 | 4.20 | 4.30 | 4.40 | 4.50 | 4.55 | 4.60 | Height | Notes |
| | Bob Richards | United States | — | — | o | o | o | o | o | xo | xxo | xxx | 4.55 | OR |
| | Don Laz | United States | — | — | o | o | o | o | o | xo | xxx | — | 4.50 |
| | Ragnar Lundberg | Sweden | — | — | o | — | o | xo | o | xxx | — | — | 4.40 |
| 4 | Petro Denysenko | Soviet Union | — | — | o | o | xo | o | o | xxx | — | — | 4.40 |
| 5 | Valto Olenius | Finland | — | — | — | o | xo | xo | xxx | — | — | — | 4.30 |
| 6 | Bunkichi Sawada | Japan | — | o | xxo | o | o | xxx | — | — | — | — | 4.20 |
| 7 | Volodymyr Brazhnyk | Soviet Union | — | o | o | o | xo | xxx | — | — | — | — | 4.20 |
| 8 | Viktor Knyazev | Soviet Union | — | o | o | xo | xo | xxx | — | — | — | — | 4.20 |
| 9 | George Mattos | United States | — | — | o | xo | xxo | xxx | — | — | — | — | 4.20 |
| 10 | Erkki Kataja | Finland | — | — | o | o | xxx | — | — | — | — | — | 4.10 |
| 11 | Tamás Homonnay | Hungary | — | o | o | o | xxx | — | — | — | — | — | 4.10 |
| 11 | Lennart Lind | Sweden | — | o | O | o | xxx | — | — | — | — | — | 4.10 |
| 13 | Milan Milakov | Yugoslavia | — | o | xo | xo | xxx | — | — | — | — | — | 4.10 |
| 14 | Rigas Efstathiadis | Greece | — | o | o | xxx | — | — | — | — | — | — | 3.95 |
| 14 | Torfy Bryngeirsson | Iceland | — | o | o | xxx | — | — | — | — | — | — | 3.95 |
| 16 | Erling Kaas | Norway | — | o | xxx | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 3.80 |
| 17 | Theodosios Balafas | Greece | o | o | xxx | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 3.80 |
| 18 | Jukka Piironen | Finland | — | xo | xxx | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 3.80 |
| 18 | Zeno Dragomir | Romania | — | xo | xxx | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 3.80 |