Athletics at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's pole vault

Men's pole vault at the Games of the XX Olympiad
Venue	Olympic Stadium
Dates	September 1 & 2
Medalists
Wolfgang Nordwig East Germany   Bob Seagren United States   Jan Johnson United States

Athletics at the 1972 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 m		men		women
200 m		men		women
400 m		men		women
800 m		men		women
1500 m		men		women
5000 m		men
10,000 m		men
100 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		women
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 field event at the 1972 Olympic Games took place on September 1 & 2. Controversy arose when defending champion Bob Seagren and Sweden's Kjell Isaksson new Cata-Pole was declared to be illegal, by the IAAF, on 25 July. The pole was banned based on the fact that the pole contained carbon fibers; after an East German-led protest revealed that it contained no carbon fibers, the ban was lifted on 27 August. Three days later the IAAF reversed itself again, reinstating the ban. The poles were then confiscated from the athletes. Seagren and Isaksson believed this gave other athletes, like the eventual gold medalist, Wolfgang Nordwig, an unfair advantage, since he did not use or train on the pole. After Seagren’s last vault he was so incensed by the way IAAF officials handled the event, he took the pole he had been forced to vault with and handed it back to IAAF President Adrian Paulen.^[1]

This was the first Olympics where the pole vault had not been won by an American. Prior to 1972, USA had won 16 straight. Since 1972 USA has only won the men's pole vault twice, equalling the record of Poland and components of the USSR. France has won three times since 1984.

Results

All jumpers reaching 5.10 m (16 ft 9 in) and the top 12 including ties qualified for the finals. This was the automatic qualifier shown in blue. All other qualifiers are shown in green. All heights are listed in metres.

Qualifying

Rank	Name	Nationality	Group	Mark	4.80	5.00	5.10
1T	Antti Kalliomäki	Finland	A	5.10	p	p	o
1T	Wolfgang Nordwig	East Germany	A	5.10	p	p	o
3T	Bruce Simpson	Canada	B	5.10	p	o	o
3T	Hervé d’Encausse	France	A	5.10	p	o	o
5	Reinhard Kuretzky	West Germany	B	5.10	o	o	o
6T	François Tracanelli	France	B	5.10	p	p	xo
6T	Bob Seagren	United States	A	5.10	p	p	xo
8	Hans Lagerqvist	Sweden	A	5.10	p	o	xo
9	Volker Ohl	West Germany	A	5.10	o	o	xo
10	Jan Johnson	United States	A	5.10	o	xo	xo
11	Tadeusz Ślusarski	Poland	B	5.00	p	o	xxx
12	Wojciech Buciarski	Poland	B	5.00	p	xo	xxx
13	Khristos Papanikolaou	Greece	A	5.00	xxo	xo	xxx
14	Ingemar Jernberg	Sweden	B	5.00	xo	xxo	xxx
15	Silvio Fraquelli	Italy	B	4.80	o	xxx
16T	Ray Boyd	Australia	B	4.80	xo	xxx
16T	Michael Bull	Great Britain	B	4.80	xo	xxx
18	Stephen Smith	United States	A	4.80	xxo	xxx
-	Kjell Isaksson	Sweden	A	NM	p	xxx
-	Kirk Bryde	Canada	B	NM	xxx
-	Renato Dionisi	Italy	A	NM	xxx
-	Abass Goudiaby	Senegal	B	DNS

Final

Rank	Name	Nationality	Mark	4.80	5.00	5.10	5.20	5.30	5.35	5.40	5.45	5.50	5.56	Notes
	Wolfgang Nordwig	East Germany	5.50	p	p	o	p	xo	o	xo	o	xxo	xxx	OR
	Bob Seagren	United States	5.40	p	p	p	o	p	o	xxo	xxx
	Jan Johnson	United States	5.35	p	p	p	xo	p	xo	xxx
4	Reinhard Kuretzky	West Germany	5.30	o	xo	xxo	xo	o	xxx
5	Bruce Simpson	Canada	5.20	p	o	xxo	o	xxx
6	Volker Ohl	West Germany	5.20	p	p	xo	xo	xxx
7	Hans Lagerqvist	Sweden	5.20	p	xo	p	xxo	xxx
8	François Tracanelli	France	5.10	p	p	o	p	xxx
9	Ingemar Jernberg	Sweden	5.10	p	xxo	xo	xxx
10	Wojciech Buciarski	Poland	5.00	p	o	p	xxx
11	Khristos Papanikolaou	Greece	5.00	o	o	p	xxx
-	Antti Kalliomäki	Finland	NM	p	p	p	xxx
-	Hervé d’Encausse	France	NM	p	p	xxx
-	Tadeusz Ślusarski	Poland	NM	p	xxx

Key: OR = Olympic record; o = clear ; p = pass; x = fail; NM = no mark; T = tied; DNS = did not start

References

• Sports Reference
• Official report