Athletics at the 2000 Summer Olympics – Men's pole vault

The men's pole vault event at the 2000 Summer Olympics as part of the athletics program was held at the Olympic Stadium on Wednesday, 27 September, and Friday, 29 September.[1] Thirty-six athletes from 22 nations competed.[2] The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by Nick Hysong of the United States, the nation's first victory in the event since its 16-Games streak (from 1896 to 1968) ended. The American team also took silver, as Lawrence Johnson finished second. Russia's Maksim Tarasov became the seventh man to win multiple pole vault medals, and the second to do so under two different flags, adding a bronze to his 1992 gold (for the Unified Team).

Men's pole vault
at the Games of the XXVII Olympiad
Pole vaulting at the 2000 Summer Olympics (women's)
VenueStadium Australia
Date27 September 2000 (qualifying)
29 September 2000 (final)
Competitors36 from 22 nations
Winning height5.90
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Nick Hysong
 United States
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Lawrence Johnson
 United States
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Maksim Tarasov
 Russia
← 1996
2004 →

Summary

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Sergey Bubka had been the dominant pole vaulter and world record holder for five Olympic cycles and this was his fourth Olympic appearance, but the Bubka curse continued into a third consecutive Olympics as he failed to clear a height for the second time (it also happened at Barcelona in 1992). Eight men managed to get to 5.90 m (19 ft 4+14 in), the winning height. Australia's two Russian−born vaulters Viktor Chistiakov and Dmitriy Markov were perfect before their adopted home crowd to that point, along with American Lawrence Johnson. With an earlier miss at 5.50m, Nick Hysong was in fourth place, but his first attempt clearance leapfrogged him into the lead, when the rest of the field failed to match him. Johnson was the only one to make it on his second attempt, putting him in the silver position. 1992 champion Maksim Tarasov entered the height tied for fifth with Okkert Brits with three earlier misses, while Michael Stolle had already taken seven attempts to get over his first three bars. Both Tarasov and Stolle made 5.90m on their last attempt, but Tarasov had the tiebreaker to take the bronze. Markov saved one heroic attempt to snatch victory, but nobody could clear 5.96m.

Background

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This was the 24th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. The returning finalists from the 1996 Games were gold medalist Jean Galfione of France, fourth-place finisher Igor Potapovich of Kazakhstan, sixth-place finisher Dmitriy Markov of Belarus (now representing Australia), seventh-place finisher Tim Lobinger of Germany, eighth-place finisher Lawrence Johnson of the United States, ninth-place finisher Michael Stolle of Germany, and eleventh-place finisher (and 1992 finalist) Danny Krasnov of Israel. 1992 gold medalist Maksim Tarasov (then of the Unified Team, now of Russia) also returned, and was the reigning world champion—the first man other than Sergey Bubka to win that title. Bubka, of Ukraine, was the favorite (especially in the absence of 2004 leader Jeff Hartwig, who had failed to make the United States team); Bubka had been the best pole vaulter in the world since the early 1980s but had managed only one Olympic medal, gold in 1988 (missing 1984 due to boycott, failing to clear a height in the 1992 final, and 1996 due to injury).[2]

The Czech Republic made its men's pole vaulting debut, although Czechoslovakia had participated before. The United States made its 23rd appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.

Qualification

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Each National Olympic Committee was permitted to enter up to three athletes that had jumped 5.60 metres or higher during the qualification period. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. If a NOC had no athletes that qualified under that standard, one athlete that had jumped 5.45 metres or higher could be entered.[3]

Competition format

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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 5.25 metres, 5.40 metres, 5.55 metres, 5.65 metres, and 5.70 metres. The next step would have been 5.75 metres, but no vaulters attempted that height. All vaulters clearing 5.75 metres advanced to the final. If fewer than 12 cleared that height, the top 12 (including ties, after applying the countback rules) advanced.

In the final, the bar was set at 5.50 metres, 5.70 metres, 5.80 metres, 5.90 metres, and 5.96 metres.[2][4]

Records

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These were the standing world and Olympic records (in meters) before the 2000 Summer Olympics.

World record   Sergey Bubka (UKR) 6.14 Sestriere, Italy 31 July 1994
Olympic record   Jean Galfione (FRA)
  Igor Trandenkov (RUS)
  Andrei Tivontchik (GER)
5.92 Atlanta, United States 2 August 1996

No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition.

Schedule

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All times are Australian Eastern Standard Time (UTC+10)

Date Time Round
Wednesday, 27 September 2000 18:30 Qualifying
Friday, 29 September 2000 18:30 Final

Results

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Key

  • o = Height cleared
  • x = Height failed
  • = Height passed
  • r  = Retired
  • SB = Season's best
  • PB = Personal best
  • NR = National record
  • AR = Area record
  • OR = Olympic record
  • WR = World record
  • WL = World lead
  • NM = No mark
  • DNS = Did not start
  • DQ = Disqualified

Qualifying

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The qualifying round was held on Wednesday, 27 September 2000. The qualifying height was 5.75 metres. For all qualifiers who did not achieve the standard, the remaining spaces in the final were filled by the highest jumps until a total of 12 qualifiers. Because only six men cleared 5.70 metres, raising the bar to 5.75 metres was unnecessary.

Rank Group Athlete Nation 5.25 5.40 5.55 5.65 5.70 Height Notes
1 B Nick Hysong   United States o o o 5.70 q
2 B Danny Ecker   Germany xo o 5.70 q
3 A Dmitriy Markov   Australia o xo 5.70 q
4 A Viktor Chistiakov   Australia o xo xxo xo 5.70 q
5 B Michael Stolle   Germany o xxo 5.70 q
6 B Giuseppe Gibilisco   Italy o xo o xxo 5.70 q
7 A Yevgeniy Smiryagin   Russia o o o xx– 5.65 q
A Tim Lobinger   Germany o o o x– 5.65 q
B Okkert Brits   South Africa o o 5.65 q
B Alexander Averbukh   Israel o o 5.65 q
B Maksim Tarasov   Russia o 5.65 q
12 A Lawrence Johnson   United States xo o 5.65 q
A Montxu Miranda   Spain xo o o xxx 5.65 q
14 A Štěpán Janáček   Czech Republic xxo o o xxx 5.65
15 A Rens Blom   Netherlands o o xo xxx 5.65
16 A Jean Galfione   France o o xxx 5.55
B Paul Burgess   Australia o o xxx 5.55
B Kevin Hughes   Great Britain o o o xxx 5.55 SB
B Javier García   Spain o o xx– x 5.55
20 A Patrik Kristiansson   Sweden o xo xxx 5.55
A Danny Krasnov   Israel o xo xxx 5.55 SB
22 A Thibaut Duval   Belgium xo xxo xxx 5.55
B Ilian Efremov   Bulgaria o xo xxo xxx 5.55
B Martin Eriksson   Sweden xo xxo xxx 5.55
25 B Manabu Yokoyama   Japan xxo xxo xxx 5.55
26 A Pavel Gerasimov   Russia xo xxx 5.40
B Chad Harting   United States xo x– xx 5.40
B Dominic Johnson   Saint Lucia xo xxx 5.40
29 B João André   Portugal xo xo xxx 5.40
30 B Denys Yurchenko   Ukraine xxo x– 5.40
30 B Romain Mesnil   France xxo x– xx 5.40
32 A Nuno Fernandes   Portugal xxo xxx 5.25
A Sergey Bubka   Ukraine xxx No mark
A Igor Potapovich   Kazakhstan xxx No mark
A Robison Pratt   Mexico xxx No mark
B Photis Stefani   Cyprus xxx No mark
A Ruhan Işım   Turkey DNS

Final

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The final was held on Friday 29 September 2000.

Rank Athlete Nation 5.50 5.70 5.80 5.90 5.96 Height Notes
  Nick Hysong   United States o xo o o xxx 5.90 PB
  Lawrence Johnson   United States o o xo xxx 5.90
  Maksim Tarasov   Russia o xo xxo xxx 5.90 SB
4 Michael Stolle   Germany xxo o xo xxo xxx 5.90
5 Viktor Chistiakov   Australia o o o xxx 5.80 SB
Dmitriy Markov   Australia o o xx– x 5.80
7 Okkert Brits   South Africa o xo xxx 5.80
8 Danny Ecker   Germany o xo xo xxx 5.80
9 Montxu Miranda   Spain o xxo xxx 5.70
10 Giuseppe Gibilisco   Italy o xxx 5.50
Aleksandr Averbukh   Israel o xxx 5.50
Yevgeniy Smiryagin   Russia o xxx 5.50
13 Tim Lobinger   Germany xo xxx 5.50

References

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  1. ^ "Athletics at the 2000 Sydney Summer Games: Men's Pole Vault". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
  2. ^ a b c "Pole Vault, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
  3. ^ http://www.trackandfieldnews.com/images/stories/tfn_pdfs/ogqualifying_standards.pdf[permanent dead link]
  4. ^ Official Report, Results Book for Athletics.
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