Athletics at the 1956 Summer Olympics – Men's pole vault
Men's pole vault at the Games of the XVI Olympiad | ||||||||||
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Venue | Olympic Park Stadium | |||||||||
Dates | 24 November (qualifying) 26 November (final) | |||||||||
Competitors | 19 from 12 nations | |||||||||
Winning height | 4.56 OR | |||||||||
Medalists | ||||||||||
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Athletics at the 1956 Summer Olympics | ||
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Track events | ||
100 m | men | women |
200 m | men | women |
400 m | men | |
800 m | men | |
1500 m | men | |
5000 m | men | |
10,000 m | men | |
80 m hurdles | women | |
110 m hurdles | men | |
400 m hurdles | men | |
3000 m steeplechase | men | |
4 × 100 m relay | men | women |
4 × 400 m relay | men | |
Road events | ||
Marathon | men | |
20 km walk | men | |
50 km walk | men | |
Field events | ||
Long jump | men | women |
Triple jump | men | |
High jump | men | women |
Pole vault | men | |
Shot put | men | women |
Discus throw | men | women |
Javelin throw | men | women |
Hammer throw | men | |
Combined events | ||
Decathlon | men | |
The men's
Summary
Background
This was the 13th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. The returning finalists from the 1952 Games were gold medalist Bob Richards of the United States, bronze medalist Ragnar Lundberg of Sweden, and ninth-place finisher George Mattos of the United States. Richards was the favorite to repeat; he had won the AAU championships in 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1954, 1955, and 1956, and the Pan-American championship in 1951 and 1955. Others expecting to content were Richard's teammates (Bob Gutowski and Mattos), as well as the 1950 and 1954 European champions, Lundberg and Eeles Landström respectively.[1]
Australia and Pakistan each made their first appearance in the event; Germany competed as the "United Team of Germany" for the first time. The United States made its 13th 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 3.70 metres, 3.85 metres, 4.00 metres, 4.10 metres, and 4.15 metres. All vaulters clearing 4.15 metres advanced to the final.
In the final, the bar was set at 3.70 metres, increased by 5 centimetres at a time until 4.50 metres, then by 3 centimetres at a time.[1][3]
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 | Bob Richards (USA) | 4.55 | Helsinki, Finland | 22 July 1952 |
Bob Richards beat his own Olympic record by a centimetre, winning with 4.56 metres.
Schedule
All times are
Date | Time | Round |
---|---|---|
Saturday, 24 November 1956 | 10:00 | Qualifying |
Monday, 26 November 1956 | 13:30 | 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
All athletes passed at 4.10 metres.
Rank | Athlete | Nation | 3.70 | 3.85 | 4.00 | 4.15 | Height | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | George Mattos | United States | — | o | — | o | 4.15 | Q |
2 | Vladimir Bulatov | Soviet Union | — | o | o | o | 4.15 | Q |
Giulio Chiesa | Italy | — | o | o | o | 4.15 | Q | |
Zbigniew Janiszewski | Poland | — | o | o | o | 4.15 | Q | |
5 | Ragnar Lundberg | Sweden | o | o | o | o | 4.15 | Q |
Georgios Roubanis | Greece | o | o | o | o | 4.15 | Q | |
7 | Bob Gutowski | United States | xo | — | — | o | 4.15 | Q |
8 | Vitaliy Chernobai | Soviet Union | — | xo | o | o | 4.15 | Q |
Zenon Ważny | Poland | — | xo | o | o | 4.15 | Q | |
Anatoly Petrov | Soviet Union | — | o | xo | o | 4.15 | Q | |
11 | Bob Richards | United States | — | o | xxo | o | 4.15 | Q |
12 | Eeles Landström | Finland | o | o | o | xo | 4.15 | Q |
Manfred Preußger | United Team of Germany | o | o | o | xo | 4.15 | Q | |
Matti Sutinen | Finland | o | o | o | xo | 4.15 | Q | |
15 | Allah Ditta | Pakistan | — | xxo | xo | xxx | 4.00 | |
16 | Rolando Cruz | Puerto Rico | o | o | xxo | xxx | 4.00 | |
17 | Bruce Peever | Australia | o | o | xxx | — | 3.85 | |
18 | Peter Denton |
Australia | xo | o | xxx | — | 3.85 | |
— | Victor Sillon | France | — | x-- | — | No mark |
Final
Sutinen failed to make a successful jump in the final. All finalists passed all heights below 4.00 metres.
Rank | Athlete | Nation | 4.00 | 4.15 | 4.25 | 4.35 | 4.40 | 4.45 | 4.50 | 4.53 | 4.56 | 4.59 | Height | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bob Richards | United States | o | o | o | o | o | o | o | o | xo | xxx | 4.56 m | OR | |
Bob Gutowski | United States | o | o | o | xo | xo | xxo | o | o | xxx | — | 4.53 | ||
Georgios Roubanis | Greece | o | o | xo | xo | o | o | o | xxx | — | 4.50 | |||
4 | George Mattos | United States | o | — | o | o | xxx | — | 4.35 | |||||
5 | Ragnar Lundberg | Sweden | o | — | o | xxx | — | 4.25 | ||||||
6 | Zenon Ważny | Poland | o | o | o | xxx | — | 4.25 | ||||||
7 | Eeles Landström | Finland | o | — | xo | xxx | — | 4.25 | ||||||
8 | Manfred Preußger | United Team of Germany | o | xo | xo | xxx | — | 4.25 | ||||||
9 | Vladimir Bulatov | Soviet Union | xo | o | xxx | — | 4.15 | |||||||
Giulio Chiesa | Italy | xo | o | xxx | — | 4.15 | ||||||||
11 | Anatoly Petrov | Soviet Union | o | xo | xxx | — | 4.15 | |||||||
12 | Zbigniew Janiszewski | Poland | xo | xo | xxx | — | 4.15 | |||||||
13 | Vitaliy Chernobai | Soviet Union | o | xxx | — | 4.00 | ||||||||
— | Matti Sutinen | Finland | xxx | — | No mark |
References
- ^ a b c "Pole Vault, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
- ^ "Athletics at the 1956 Melbourne Summer Games: Men's Pole Vault". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 4 January 2018.
- ^ Official Report, p. 330.