Best Vaulters with Bamboo, Metal

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rainbowgirl28
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Best Vaulters with Bamboo, Metal

Unread postby rainbowgirl28 » Wed Dec 15, 2004 10:29 pm

Another great article from Roger Ruth rruth@uvic.ca

Code: Select all

A friend recently wrote to ask whether 1960 Olympic Siver Medalist Ron
Morris ever cleared 15' with a bamboo pole. As usual, when I know I'm in
over my head, I forwarded the question to Gérard Dumas, the greatest vault
statistician ever. And as usual, Gérard not only answered the question
(no), but provided a great amount of other information on bamboo and metal
pole bests. I asked him for permission to forward his answer to some sites
where subscribers might be interested.

10 Best Vaulters with Metal Poles:

4.82,6     15'9 3/4"    Bob Gutowski         14.06.1957   Austin
4.82i      15'9 1/4"    Don Bragg            13.02.1959   Philadelphia
4.78       15'8"        John Cramer          23.06.1962   Walnut
4.77,5     15'8"        Ron Morris           24.06.1961   New York
4.72,4i    15'6"        Bob Richards         09.02.1957   New York
4.70       15'5"        Manfred Preussger    14.10.1961   Magdeburg, GER
4.69,9     15'5"        Jim Graham           19.05.1959   Norman
4.67,3           15'4"        J. D. Martin             21.05.1960          Ames, Iowa
4.67,3           15'4"        Henry Wadsworth      21.06.1961          New York
4.65           15'3 1/8"        Janis Krassovski     17.07.1960          Moscow



10 Best Vaulters with Bamboo Poles:

4.78,5i    15'8 1/4"    Cornelius Warmerdam  20.03.1943   Chicago
4.54,6     14'11"       Bill Sefton          29.05.1937   Los Angeles
4.54,6     14'11"       Earle Meadows        29.05.1937   Los Angeles
4.52       14'10"       Vitaliy Chernobai    30.09.1957   Odessa
4.47,3     14'8 1/8"    Richmond Morcom      10.07.1948   Evanston
4.47       14'8"        Kenneth Dills        07.06.1940   Compton
4.46,1     14'7 5/8"    George Varoff        03.07.1937   Milwaukee
4.46       14'7 5/8"    Pyotr Denisenko      13.09.1954   Kiev
4.45,3           14'7 5/8        Guinn Smith             17.05.1947          Modesto
4.44,4           14'7"        Loring Day             23.04.1938          Los Angeles

BTW--(RR)--If the metric/imperial conversions don't agree with those in
your little green book, it's probably because the rules on measurement and
conversion have changed since these marks were established. We no longer
measure to the nearest millimeter or 1/8". There's also the possibility of
my typing errors.


Gérard's comments:

Boo Morcom did not remember whether his 4.49,5i (14'9") at Cleveland on
March 18,1949 was made with bamboo or metal.

I talked to Bob Richards several times in 1981-89 and tried to find out
what was his best with bamboo. He said that he never cleared more than 14'6
1/8 (4.42,2) with bamboo (Evanston 10.07.1948).

A few contemporary vaulters have tried bamboo poles. Each time it was a bit
of a fiasco. In 1982, I saw Thierry Vigneron (best on fiberglass 5.91/19'4
1/2") and Philippe Houvion (best on fiberglass 18'11") do 4.43m (14'6")
with bamboo. The poles were bending quite a bit and not safe.  .The guys
were petrified, especially Houvion, who was near 200 pounds at the time.
After that clearance, they didn't try higher, although by then they were
used to the flexible poles. Hardly fair to have people try bamboo these
days--all those changes in runways, grip height, pits, etc., etc.

DecHep
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Joined: Sun May 23, 2004 11:02 pm

Old Poles

Unread postby DecHep » Fri Dec 17, 2004 1:32 am

Becca,
Great article! Don't know how you keep coming up with this good stuff. :)

DaMoonVaulter#1
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Location: Haverford, PA/San Diego, CA

Unread postby DaMoonVaulter#1 » Fri Dec 17, 2004 3:57 am

Anyone got any pics or film of people jumping on a metal or bamboo pole? Or even a pic of a bamboo or metal pole, just curios as to what they looked like and all that.

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CowtownPV
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Unread postby CowtownPV » Fri Dec 17, 2004 8:56 am

This article was posted on a T&F e-mail list and several replies have wondered what today's elite vaulters would jump on these poles. Anyone have a stiff pole PR?
Winners find a way to win, losers find an excuse.


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