Athletics at the 1964 Summer Olympics – Men's pole vault

Men's pole vault at the Games of the XVIII Olympiad
Venue	Olympic Stadium
Dates	15–17 October
Competitors	32 from 20 nations
Medalists
Fred Hansen   United States   Wolfgang Reinhardt   Germany   Klaus Lehnertz   Germany

Official Video Highlights @29:48 Video on YouTube

Athletics at the 1964 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 m		men		women
200 m		men		women
400 m		men		women
800 m		men		women
1500 m		men
5000 m		men
10,000 m		men
80 m hurdles				women
110 m hurdles		men
400 m hurdles		men
3000 m steeplechase		men
4×100 m relay		men		women
4×400 m relay		men
Road events
Marathon		men
20 km walk		men
50 km walk		men
Field events
Long jump		men		women
Triple jump		men
High jump		men		women
Pole vault		men
Shot put		men		women
Discus throw		men		women
Javelin throw		men		women
Hammer throw		men
Combined events
Pentathlon				women
Decathlon		men

The men's pole vault was one of four men's jumping events on the Athletics at the 1964 Summer Olympics program in Tokyo. Qualification was held on 15 October 1964, with the final on 17 October. 32 athletes from 20 nations entered, with 1 not starting in the qualification round. The final lasted over seven hours, to date the longest competition in history. All finalists qualified at 4.60, however in the final five were unable to achieve the height again.

At this point in time, the United States had never lost and Olympic pole vault competition. In the final, the last remaining American was Fred Hansen, who at the time was also the world record holder. Hansen cleared 5 meters on his first attempt, but so did three German athletes, making it a four way tie. Hansen passed the next height, watching as only Wolfgang Reinhardt was able to clear. Re-entering the competition at 5.10, Hansen failed his first two attempts, but so did Reinhardt. Hansen then sailed over his final attempt, while Reinhart could not. Hansen continued the American streak, which would survive through one more Olympics until the 1972 pole vault controversy, when defending champion Bob Seagren had his pole confiscated at the games and had to compete on an unfamiliar, borrowed pole.

Results

Qualification

Vaulters had to clear 4.60 metres to qualify for the final. The bar start at 4.20 metres, increasing gradually to 4.60 metres. Each jumper had three attempts at each height or could skip any lower height (but could not return to a lower height if he determined that he could not succeed).

Place	Athlete	Nation	Best mark		4.20	4.30	4.40	4.50	4.60
1	Risto Ankio	Finland	4.60 metres				1st		1st
	Gennadiy Bliznetsov	Soviet Union	4.60 metres						1st
	Sergey Demin	Soviet Union	4.60 metres				2nd		1st
	Herve D'Encausse	France	4.60 metres		1st		1st		1st
	Igor Feld	Soviet Union	4.60 metres				1st		1st
	Fred Morgan Hansen	United States	4.60 metres						1st
	Taisto Laitinen	Finland	4.60 metres				1st		2nd
	Klaus Lehnertz	Germany	4.60 metres			1st		2nd	1st
	Roman Lesek	Yugoslavia	4.60 metres				1st		1st
	Guerrino Moro	Canada	4.60 metres		2nd		2nd		1st
	Pentti Nikula	Finland	4.60 metres				1st		1st
	Christos Papanikolau	Greece	4.60 metres			2nd		2nd	1st
	Billy Gene Pemelton	United States	4.60 metres						1st
	John Pennel	United States	4.60 metres						2nd
	Manfred Preussger	Germany	4.60 metres				3rd		1st
	Wolfgang Reinhardt	Germany	4.60 metres				1st		1st
	Ignacio Sola	Spain	4.60 metres		1st		1st	1st	3rd
	Rudolf Tomasek	Czechoslovakia	4.60 metres					1st	1st
	Yang Chuan-kwang	Taiwan	4.60 metres				1st	1st	1st
20	David Stevenson	Great Britain	4.50 metres		1st		1st	1st	Fail
21	Rolando Cruz	Puerto Rico	4.50 metres			1st	3rd	1st	Fail
22	Morita Hisao	Japan	4.40 metres				1st		Fail
23	Werner Duttweiler	Switzerland	4.40 metres		1st		1st		Fail
24	Torii Yoshimasa	Japan	4.40 metres		1st		2nd		Fail
25	Renato Dionisi	Italy	4.20 metres		1st	Fail
	Otsubo Masashi	Japan	4.20 metres		1st		Fail
27	Paul Coppejans	Belgium	4.20 metres		3rd		Fail
28	Dimitar Khlebarov	Bulgaria	No mark				Fail
	Maurice Houvion	France	No mark		Fail
	Włodzimierz Sokołowski	Poland	No mark				Fail
—	Valbjoern Thorlaksson	Iceland	Did not start
	Wu Ar Min	Taiwan	Did not start

Final

Place	Athlete	Nation	Best mark		4.40	4.60	4.70	4.80	4.85	4.90	4.95	5.00	5.05	5.10
1	Fred Morgan Hansen	United States	5.10 metres OR				1st	1st	1st			1st		3rd
2	Wolfgang Reinhardt	Germany	5.05 metres		2nd	2nd		2nd		2nd		1st	1st	Fail
3	Klaus Lehnertz	Germany	5.00 metres		1st	1st	1st	1st	1st	1st	2nd	1st	Fail
4	Manfred Preussger	Germany	5.00 metres			3rd		1st		1st		1st	Fail
5	Gennadiy Bliznetsov	Soviet Union	4.95 metres		1st	1st	1st		1st		1st	Fail
6	Rudolf Tomasek	Czechoslovakia	4.90 metres			1st	1st	2nd		1st		Fail
7	Pentti Nikula	Finland	4.90 metres		2nd	2nd	1st	3rd	2nd	1st	Fail
8	Billy Gene Pemelton	United States	4.80 metres				1st	1st	Fail
9	Igor Feld	Soviet Union	4.80 metres			1st	3rd	2nd		Fail
10	Guerrino Moro	Canada	4.70 metres			1st	2nd	1st	Fail
11	John Pennel	United States	4.70 metres				2nd		Fail
12	Risto Ankio	Finland	4.70 metres			1st	2nd	Fail
13	Roman Lesek	Yugoslavia	4.70 metres		1st	3rd	2nd	Fail
14	Taisto Laitinen	Finland	4.60 metres		1st	1st	Fail
15	Sergey Demin	Soviet Union	4.40 metres		1st	Fail
	Herve D'Encausse	France	4.40 metres		1st	Fail
	Ignacio Sola	Spain	4.40 metres		1st	Fail
18	Christos Papanikolau	Greece	4.40 metres		2nd	Fail
19	Yang Chuan-kwang	Taiwan	No mark		Fail

References

• Official Report