PoleVaultPower.com

Am I the only one that missed this? One of the greatest vaulters and technicians ever officially retired after being out a couple of seasons with injury.

20.12.2003
On 1st February 2004 during the " Russian Winter " Meeting will take place a farewell in sports and Russian National athletics team for Pole Vault Olympic champion Maxim Tarasov.

There is a picture of him on the t-shirt I am wearing right now.

Didn't he hurt his foot really bad a few years ago or something?

He wrecked his ankle big time. They showed it on tv. He took off a little under and decided not to finish the jump, and then, for some reason he decided to land on his feet in the pit. BIG NO NO for all you beginning vaulters out there. When he did, he rolled his ankle and the tibia and fibula decided to continue downward into the pit. It was nasty. He never was the same after that.

Yeah, it didn't look like much more than an aborted vault until he picked his foot up. It definitely looked like a dislocated ankle. I will agree that he was probably the best technical vaulter out there. To prevent any back lash from those people who like the short Americans who vaulted high (19') while gripping low, he is definitely the greatest vaulter over 6' tall.

i was just watching video of some of his older jumps yesterday. that guy was awesome!

In either 97 or 98, he cleared 5.90 (19-04.25) or higher in 24 of 26 meets. His other two marks that year included 19-02.25 and an indoor 18-04.50. He also holds the record for the highest ever successful starting height of 19-04.25.

1982 11 2.90m 09-06ish
1983 12 3.30m 10-07ish
1984 13 3.80m 12-05.50
1985 14 4.50m 14-09.50
1986 15 5.00m 16-04.75
1987 16 5.40m 17-08.50 Age 17 WR (turned 17 in Dec. so counts as 17yo)
1988 17 5.60m 18-04.50 Age 18 WR
1989 18 5.80m 19-00.25 Age 19 WR
1990 19 5.85m 19-02.25
1991 20 5.90m 19-04.25
1992 21 5.90m
1993 22 5.90m
1994 23 5.90m
1995 24 5.91m 19-04.75
1996 25 5.90m
1997 26 6.00m 19-08.25
1998 27 5.95m 19-06.25
1999 28 6.05m 19-10.25
2000 29 5.90m (injured)
2001 30 5.75m 18-10.25 (injured)

MEDALS
He also medaled in every major championship he ever competed in.

Gold Olympic Games Barcelona, 1992
Gold IAAF World Championships Sevilla, 1999
Gold European Championships Budapest, 1998
Gold IAAF World Cup Johannesburg, 1998
Gold European Junior Championships Sofia, 1989

Silver IAAF World Championships Athens, 1997
Silver IAAF World Championships Göteborg, 1995
Silver World Junior Championships Sudbury, 1988

Bronze Olympic Games Sydney, 2000
Bronze IAAF World Championships Stuttgart, 1993
Bronze IAAF World Championships Tokyo, 1991
Bronze IAAF World Indoor Championships Paris, 1997

Winner IAAF Grand Prix München, 1999
Winner IAAF Grand Prix (4th Overall) Moscow, 1998
Winner IAAF Grand Prix Milano, 1996
Winner Ricoh Indoor Tour 1998
Winner European Cup Super League München, 1997

Now there was a guy with both the coaching and the talent. Who was his coach anyway?

mowad1 wrote:Now there was a guy with both the coaching and the talent. Who was his coach anyway?

Boris Volkov

Anyone have any of his videos online?

yeah there are some on this website. www.stabhochsprung.com

Very disappointing.
My computer here at work is named "tarasov".

Here is an image I stole from achtungbaby.com (no longer an active web page I believe).

Duncan wrote:Here is an image I stole from achtungbaby.com (no longer an active web page I believe).

No it's not. That was my site. Unfortunately, it became a major pain to keep updated.