Kjell Isakkson was a stud! I haven't seen a lot of free takeoffs back in the 70's, but his 18'2 WR in '72 was amazing - free takeoff, lined up and caught everything out of that old Cat (or was it a Sky?).
Wolfgang Nordwig was another awesome jumper - free takeoff, narrow grip and swung to the top like nobody's business. I would have rather seen Seagren take the gold in Munich (pole ban screwed him), but ya gotta give Nordwig credit for the top of his jump.
The other thing is, those guys didn't hold nearly as high as today's elites. I know a lot of Elite Masters guys who said that many elites were on 15' or 15'6 poles in those days with huge pushoffs, jumping on black Cats, Browning Skypole Silaflex's, blue Sky's, and other pieces of crap by today's standards, or were they? How much have poles REALLY improved in 30 years aside from mandrel size and carry-weight?
I wonder how today's vaulters compare in pushoff efficiency to the old guys.
Scary time to jump too! Those old postage-stamp size pits were pretty scary, as were the bags of scrap foam and Cloud-9 inflatable pits.
Huge props to the vault dogs of the '70's!
