The men's pole vault at the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and officially branded as Seoul 1988 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. 159 nations were represe ...

Seoul, South Korea Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

had an entry list of 21 competitors from 13 nations, with two qualifying groups (21 jumpers) before the final (15) took place on Wednesday September 28, 1988. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. Three Soviet, French and American athletes made the final, but it was the Soviet bloc that dominated the event, sweeping the medals, with

Sergey Bubka Sergey Nazarovych Bubka (; ''Serhiy Nazarovych Bubka''; born 4 December 1963) is a Ukrainian former pole vaulter. He represented the Soviet Union until its dissolution in 1991. Bubka was twice named Athlete of the Year by '' Track & Field News ...

already the dominant vaulter. His world record of 6.06 metres, set two months earlier, has only since been cleared by three other men, 2008 gold medalist

Steven Hooker Steven Leslie Hooker OAM (born 16 July 1982) is an Australian former pole vaulter and Olympic gold medalist. His personal best, achieved in 2008, is making him the fourth-highest pole vaulter in history, behind Sergey Bubka, Renaud Lavillenie ...

, 2012 gold medalist

Renaud Lavillenie Renaud Lavillenie ( or ; born 18 September 1986) is a French pole vaulter. Lavillenie won the gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics, 2012 Olympics in London and the silver medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics, 2016 Olympics in Rio. In addition to ...

, and 2020 gold medalist

Armand Duplantis Armand "Mondo" Gustav Duplantis (born 10 November 1999), is a Swedish and American pole vaulter who competes for Sweden. Regarded as the greatest pole vaulter of all time, Duplantis is the current List of world records in athletics, world recor ...

in 2020. But while Bubka would vault in three more Olympics and would continue to dominate the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

with six consecutive wins, this would be the only Olympic medal he would achieve. It was also the only victory the Soviet Union had in the men's pole vault, though the Unified Team (ex-USSR countries) would win in 1992. Rodion Gataullin and

Grigoriy Yegorov Grigoriy Aleksandrovich Yegorov (, born January 12, 1967, in Shymkent) is a pole vault athlete from the former USSR. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, he became citizen of Kazakhstan. In 1996 he moved to the Alicante ...

completed the medal sweep for the Soviet team; it was the fourth pole vault medal sweep (the United States had done it in 1904, 1924, and 1928). The 1988 Games were the first in which the United States competed in the pole vault, but failed to medal.

Background

This was the 21st appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. The returning finalists from the 1984 Games were the two bronze medalists,

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

Thierry Vigneron Thierry Vigneron (born 9 March 1960 in Gennevilliers, Hauts-de-Seine) is a retired French pole vaulter. In the 1980s, he was among the world's leading pole vaulters. He broke the world record in the event four times and was the last man to hold ...

of France.

of the Soviet Union was dominant: he had won the 1983 and 1987 world championships, the 1986 European championship, and set the world record nine times between 1984 and 1988, becoming the only man to have cleared 6 metres. South Korea made its men's pole vaulting debut. The United States made its 20th appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.

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. In the qualifying round, the bar was set at 5.10 metres, 5.20 metres, 5.30 metres, 5.40 metres, 5.45 metres, 5.50 metres, and 5.55 metres. The first two heights were only used in the second qualifying group. All vaulters clearing 5.55 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 5.10 metres, 5.25 metres, 5.40 metres, 5.50 metres, 5.60 metres, and then increased by 5 centimetres as a time.Official Report, vol. 2, p. 242.

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in metres) prior to the 1988 Summer Olympics. When the bar was raised to 5.80 metres, giving vaulters a chance to break the Olympic record, only the three Soviets remained in the competition.

was the only one to jump at 5.80 metres, becoming the first to break the Olympic record. Rodion Gataullin jumped successfully at 5.85 metres, breaking Yegorov's new record while Yegorov passed. At 5.90 metres,

broke Gataullin's record with a mark that stood at the end of the Games, as none of the three could clear further.

Schedule

All times are Korea Standard Time adjusted for daylight savings (

UTC+10 UTC+10:00 is an identifier for a UTC offset, time offset from UTC of +10:00. This time is used in: As standard time (year-round) Principal cities: Vladivostok, Khabarovsk, Saipan, Dededo, Port Moresby, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Queensland, Gold C ...

)

Results

Qualifying

The qualifying round was held on Monday September 26, 1988. After a dispute regarding disparate raising increments between the groups, all 15 of the vaulters who had cleared 5.40 metres were advanced to the final.

Final

The final was held on Wednesday September 28, 1988.

References

External links

*
Official Report
{{DEFAULTSORT:Athletics at the 1988 Summer Olympics - Men's pole vault 1 Pole vault at the Olympics Men's events at the 1988 Summer Olympics