The men's

pole vault Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the Myc ...

competition featured in the athletics programme at the

1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phi ...

and was held at the

Olympic Stadium ''Olympic Stadium'' is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games. An Olympic stadium is the site of the opening and closing ceremonies. Many, though not all, of these venues actually contain the words ''Olympic Stadium'' as ...

Montréal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-p ...

on 24 and 26 July. Twenty-seven athletes from 13 nations competed. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. All three medallists tied the

Olympic record Olympic records are the best performances in a specific event in that event's history in either the Summer Olympic Games or the Winter Olympic Games, including: * Archery (list) * Alpine skiing (records recognized only by FIS) * Athletics (list) ...

mark of 5.50 metres.

Tadeusz Ślusarski Tadeusz Ślusarski (19 May 1950 in Żary – 17 August 1998 on the E65 road near Ostromice) was a Polish Olympic gold medalist in pole vault at the 1976 Olympics, as well as a silver medalist at the 1980 Olympics (behind another Polish champ ...

of Poland and

Antti Kalliomäki Antti Kalliomäki (born 8 January 1947) is a Finnish politician and former athlete. Kalliomäki is a member of the Social Democratic Party of Finland (SDP) and was a member of the Parliament of Finland from 1983 until 2011. He retired from polit ...

of Finland both cleared all heights up to 5.50 m with no misses; Ślusarski passed two heights more than Kalliomäki, and won on the basis of fewer vaults in accordance with the rules of the time. American Dave Roberts, who also cleared 5.50 m on his first try but had one miss from an earlier height, took the bronze medal. Ślusarski's gold medal was Poland's first medal in the men's pole vault. Kalliomäki's silver was Finland's first medal since 1960 and matched the nation's best result to date (from 1948). Roberts's bronze was the worst result yet for the Americans, who had won the first 16 editions of the event and taken silver at the 17th in 1972.

Background

This was the 18th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. The returning finalists from the 1972 Games were fifth-place finisher Bruce Simpson of Canada, eighth-place finisher

François Tracanelli François Tracanelli (born 4 February 1951) is a retired pole vaulter from France, who was born in Italy. International competitions References

1951 births Living people French male pole vaulters Athletes (track and field) at the ...

of France, ninth-place finisher Ingemar Jernberg of Sweden, tenth-place finisher Wojciech Buciarski, and twelfth-place finishers

and

of Poland (each of whom had not cleared any height in the final). The favorites were

David Roberts David or Dave Roberts may refer to: Arts and literature * David Roberts (painter) (1796–1864), Scottish painter * David Roberts (art collector), Scottish contemporary art collector * David Roberts (novelist), English editor and mystery writer ...

(the world record holder) and

Earl Bell Earl Holmes Bell (born August 25, 1955) is a retired American pole vaulter. He competed at the 1976, 1984 and 1988 Olympics and won a bronze medal in 1984, placing fourth in 1988 and sixth in 1976. He also briefly held the world record in 1976, ...

of the United States and

Władysław Kozakiewicz Władysław Kozakiewicz (born 8 December 1953) is a retired Polish athlete who specialised in the pole vault. He is best known for winning the gold medal at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow and the bras d'honneur gesture which he showed to th ...

of Poland. Cuba was the only nation that made its pole vaulting debut in the event. The United States made its 18th 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 4.60 metres (which all vaulters passed on), 4.80 metres, 5.00 metres, and 5.10 metres. All vaulters clearing 5.10 metres advanced to the final. If fewer than 12 cleared that height, the top 12 (including ties) advanced. In the final, the bar was set at 4.80 metres (which all vaulters passed on), 5.00 metres, 5.10 metres, 5.20 metres, and then increased by 5 centimetres as a time.Official Report, vol. 3, p. 74.

Records

Prior to the competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows. The three medalists (

, and

) all matched the Olympic record at 5.50 metres; none were able to break it.

Schedule

Results

Qualifying

The qualification was set to 5.10 metres. A total of 20 athletes achieved this height.

Final

References

External links

Results
{{DEFAULTSORT:Athletics at the 1976 Summer Olympics - Men's pole vault

Pole vault Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the Myc ...

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

Men's events at the 1976 Summer Olympics