page_title: Pole vault
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Pole vault / History
caption_attribution_description: English: fierljeppen the jumper who falls into the water Nederlands: fierljeppen de springer die in het water valt
context_page_description: Pole vaulting is a track and field event in which a person uses a long flexible pole as an aid to jump over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the ancient Greeks, Cretans and Celts. It has been a full medal event at the Olympic Games since 1896 for men and since 2000 for women.
  It is typically classified as one of the four major jumping events in athletics, alongside the high jump, long jump and triple jump. It is unusual among track and field sports in that it requires a significant amount of specialised equipment in order to participate, even at a basic level. A number of elite pole vaulters have had backgrounds in gymnastics, including world record breakers Yelena Isinbayeva and Brian Sternberg, reflecting the similar physical attributes required for the sports. Running speed, however, may be the most dominant factor. Physical attributes such as speed, agility and strength are essential to pole vaulting effectively, but technical skill is an equally if not more important element. The object of pole vaulting is to clear a bar or crossbar supported upon two uprights without knocking it down.
context_section_description: Poles were used as a practical means of passing over natural obstacles in marshy places such as the province of Friesland in the Netherlands, along the North Sea, and the great level of the Fens in England across Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire, Lincolnshire and Norfolk. Artificial draining of these marshes created a network of open drains or canals intersecting each other. To cross these without getting soaked, while avoiding tedious roundabout journeys over bridges, a stack of jumping poles was kept at every house and used for vaulting over the canals.
  Distance pole vaulting competitions continue to be held annually in the lowlands around the North Sea. These far-jumping competitions (Frisian: Fierljeppen) are not based on height.
  In his book The Mechanics of the Pole Vault, Richard Ganslen reports that the London Gymnastic Society under Professor Voelker held measured pole vaulting events in 1826, involving 1,300 participants and recording heights up to 10 ft 10 in (3.3 m). Other early pole vaulting competitions where height was measured took place at the Ulverston Football and Cricket Club, Lancashire, north of the sands (now Cumbria) in 1843. Modern competition began around 1850 in Germany, when pole vaulting was added to the exercises of the Turner gymnastic clubs by Johann C. F. GutsMuths and Friedrich L. Jahn. In Great Britain, it was first practiced at the Caledonian Games.
  Initially, vaulting poles were made from stiff materials such as bamboo or aluminum. The introduction of flexible vaulting poles in the early 1950s made from composites such as fiberglass or carbon fiber allowed vaulters to achieve greater height.
  In 2000, IAAF rule 260.18a (formerly 260.6a) was amended, so that "world records" (as opposed to "indoor world records") can be set in a facility "with or without roof". This rule was not applied retroactively, With many indoor facilities not conforming to outdoor track specifications for size and flatness, the pole vault is the only world record set indoors.
caption: Traditional fierljeppen in the Netherlands, using poles to clear distances over rivers
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "MG5300 series", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "MP Navigator EX 5.0", "Image DateTime": "2013:04:20 20:46:31", "Image Artist": "Picasa", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "218", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "578", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5150", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2013:04:20 20:39:28", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2013:04:20 20:39:28", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1144", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1600", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "Interoperability RelatedImageWidth": "1188", "Interoperability RelatedImageLength": "1728", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "442", "EXIF FileSource": "Reflection Print Scanner", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "8ba23fc909c7827a73ce6eed83d6245a"}