Sports Blogs: The History Behind the Olympics and the Pole Vault

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Hi everybody, my name is Kendall Dean! I am a sports fanatic! I enjoy competing in all kinds of sports and I enjoy watching sports too. That's why I love watching the Olympic Games. The Olympic Games allow for me to watch sports that are unique, but very competitive. My favorite Olympic event to watch is the Pole vault, a track and field event.

I have been vaulting since my freshman year in high school and ever since then I have fallen in love with the sport. This extreme sport is unique and becoming more and more popular among athletes.

I was required to write a research paper for my English 102 class at Boise State University, so I decided to research the history of the Olympics and the Pole vault and figure out when they came together, and how the pole vault came to be an Olympic event. Here is what I have put together...

Ancient Olympic History

Judith Swaddling, head of the Italian collections in the Department of Greek and Romans at the British Museum and having executed many exhibitions on the subject of the ancient Olympic Games, wrote a book called "The Ancient Olympic Games." Much of my research came from this book.

The Olympic Games would not be what they are today if it weren't for efforts of ancient Greece and its surrounding city-states. According to Swaddling, the ancient Games were created in honor of the Greek God, Zeus, by Heracles in 776 B.C. In addition to being an honorary celebration, one of the greatest aspects of the ancient Olympic Games was its goal of promoting peace and unity through the "Olympic Truce." According to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the purpose of the Olympic Truce was to provide a period of total peace and unity among Greek nations and colonies.
It constituted an agreement to cease all acts of wars and conflicts between contending populations for the duration of the Games.

In its early years the Ancient Games were a day long event consisting the stade race, and other non-athletic presentations such as art, plays, and poetry. As the years went on each celebration grew longer and more dynamic. By the 5th century B.C. the Ancient Games expanded to become a five day grandeur! By this time the athletics incorporated into the programe were the: pentathlon, pankration, wrestling, boxing, and equestrian events.

Pentathlon- The pentathletes competed in the discus throw, javelin throw, running events, long jump, and wrestling. These athletes had to be proficient in all of these events in order to do well. Within the running events there was the stade (equivalent to the 200 m.), diaulous (equivalent to the 400 m.), and the dolichos (approximately three miles).

Wrestling- There were two types: Upright and Ground wrestling. Upright wrestling is what we are used to. Basically to win you had to get your opponent's back, hip, or shoulders to the ground three times. Ground wrestling had the same rules except that to win your opponent had to essentially give up by raising a finger on his right hand.

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Boxing- I did not research this one into great detail, however ancient boxing was very similar to the boxing we see today.

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Pankration- This was a brutal sport that combined wrestling and boxing; it was pretty much an "all-in" fighting contest. You won by forcing your opponent to give up or "tap out." The only rules were no eye gouging and no biting.

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Equestrian- The chariot and horse races to the Greeks was like what American football is to Americans.These were the sports they absolutely loved. A chariot was driven by one person and pulled by four horses. These races were fast-paced and often had brutal crashes. Nascar fans would probably enjoy watching chariot races. The horse races involved a single horse and a single rider racing against other opponents.

Just as winners of the Olympics today become local heroes, so did they victors of the ancient Olympics. They became heroes and legends. Winners received a sacred olive wreath crown that they wore on their head and often times had a statue of them built in their honor.

The Games became a major part of Greek and Roman culture. The celebration was held every four years at Olympia. For centuries the Games continued to be carried out until they were put to death when all pagan cults were banned by Theodosius I in 393 A.D.

Here is a link to a video that was put together by the International Olympic Committee illustrating the history of the ancient Olympic Games! http://www.olympic.org/ancient-olympic-games

The ancient Games created a historical movement of athletics. Sports have become a part of many cultures throughout the world; having more importance in some cultures than in others. Likewise, many cultures hold competitions of the sports they enjoy. Throughout history, following 393 A.D., many attempts at reviving the Olympic Games were made, however none of these attempts had the results comparable to the ancient Games.

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So how did the modern day Olympics come about? Baron Pierre De Coubertin gets all the credit for reviving the Olympic Games. In 1894, De Coubertin, a man of great intelligence; a man who values human beings collectively and as individuals; and an activist who promotes worldwide access to varied ways of life, sports, and above all, education, announced his proposal to revive the Olympic Games that held so strongly in Greek antiquity. The driving force behind De Coubertin's desire to restore the Games was to present "a living source of education in 'Olympism'" (Callebat 557). Just as some of the values of the ancient Games were physical effort, peace, and unity, De Coubertin stressed the restoration of the Olympic Games to bring forward the principles of "national individuality and internationalism" (Callebat 559). He said, "to create national strength by athletic training and to create international harmony by means of athletic competition—I believe that these words sum the whole task I am trying to accomplish" (Callebat 559). Great ideas can be ignored when they are carried to extremes, however for De Coubertin's dream of reviving the Games, as impossible as it seemed, became a reality when the first modern day Olympics were held in 1896. Since this time, the Olympic Games have continued to be held every four years, with the exception the few that were cancelled due to war.

About the Pole Vault

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The pole vault is a very technical field event that uses the energy of a long, flexible pole to launch a vaulter up and over a bar. There is so much technique to this sport that it would take a novel to explain everything about the pole vault. So, I will provide a basic explanation. The vault starts with the approach. The approach consists of the vaulter running down a runway toward the pole vault pit while simultaneously lowering the pole. As the vaulter approaches his or her second to last step they will plant the pole into the metal box in front of the pit by throwing their arms straight above their head. This action puts all of your forward momentum in a vertical motion. As the pole starts to bend the vaulter swings to an inverted (upside down) position. Then the vaulter will pull their body upward with their arms while turning their body toward the pole at the same time. If all goes well, the vaulter will arch over the bar with the stomach facing down, and then gracefully fall to the soft pit. Now if that doesn't give you a thrill then I don't know what would. Each vaulter gets three attempts at a height. If they clear a height before three attempts they can move on, and receives three more attempts at the next height.

History of the Pole Vault

In the "Illustrated History of the Pole Vault," written by Jan Johnson and Russ Versteeg, it states that pole vaulting may date back as far as 2500 B.C. It is almost impossible to pin point the time when the idea of pole vaulting came about, which is why we refer to educated guesses.

In its earliest form, pole vaulting was a tactic used to get from one place to another, because humans discovered the mechanical advantage that long poles could offer. For example, ancient warriors utilized long poles as a giant lever to get themselves up and over castle walls, while farmers used poles on a daily basis to leap over large ditches and canals, and to get up onto animals' backs (Griffin). According to Jan Johnson and Russ Versteeg, pole vaulting was first practiced as a sporting discipline in the Tailteann Games in ancient Ireland, when they first started in 1829 BC (7). There is no evidence of vaulting competitions prior to ancient Ireland. The pole vault competitions held here were different than what we see today. After concluding his research, Dylan De Castro, professional writer and journalist for Livestrong.com stated that, interestingly enough, rather than vaulting for height, competitors competed for distance (1).

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Even though pole vaulting existed during the time period of the Greek Olympic Games, the sport must have not been popular enough to be included. The modern day pole vaulting movement was initiated by Johann Christoph Friedrich GutsMuths, also known as the Father of German physical education. GutsMuths developed a great interest for the pole vault and its potential to better his students overall performance. In Johnson's and Versteeg's book they reiterate this by quoting Johann GutsMuths words:

I am convinced that it is scarcely possible to acquire by any other mode of exercise, what may be accomplished by pole vaulting; and that strength and pliability of body, courage and presence of mind, preservation of equilibrium and accuracy of eye are promoted by it in an extraordinary degree; whence I cannot but wish, that this exercise may by no means be omitted in a plan of physical education (19).

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GutsMuths incorporated the pole vault into his athletes' daily workout routines. He also revolutionized the sport by changing its overall goal from distance to height. Thanks to the ambitions of GutsMuths, pole vaulting quickly started to become a popular, internationally-known sporting discipline, which lead to becoming an Olympic sport in 1896.

The Pole Vault today

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Pole vaulting is continually becoming more and more popular. Now that a majority of high schools offer pole vaulting as one of the field events in their track programs more young athletes are pursuing the sport. Collegiate vaulting programs allow a few thousand athletes each year to continue to pursue the sport they love. Those individuals who excel above the majority may continue on to the Olympic Games. Today, pole vaulters have reached peak performance. With the latest and greatest pole technology, vault technique, and modes of training pole vault athletes' performances have shown a plateau effect. Sergey Bubka, living legend of the pole vault, still holds the outdoor world record height of 6.14 m. (20.14 ft) set on July 13, 1994 and the indoor world record of 6.15 m. (20.17 ft) set on February 21, 1993. No one else has come close to beating his records, in fact no one else has passed the 20 foot mark. This is why I say that pole vault performance has reached its peak.

On the women's side, Yelena Isinbaeva holds the outdoor world record of 5.06 m. (16.6 ft) set in 2009 and the indoor world record of 5.00 m. (16.4 ft) set in 2009 as well.

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My Pole Vault Career

I started pole vaulting when I was an tiny little freshman at Centennial High School in Boise, Idaho. My father vaulted in high school and loved it, and he suggested I give it a try. So, me being ambitious, I tried it. I struggled to rid myself of the fear of getting myself upside down on the pole. However, I had an amazing interest for the sport. I continued to practice and do drill after drill and workout after workout. By the end of my freshman year I had vaulted 9 ft. Not too shabby. I had a breakthrough my Sophomore year. I had the best coach I could have asked for. He helped me tremendously. I had vaulted a new personal best of 13 feet at the Idaho High School Track and Field Championships. Being very confident coming into my third season, I continued to improve. I vaulted a new personal record of 14 feet 6 inches during the regular season. At the end of my Junior year I felt like my hard work was wasted when I no heighted at the State meet. As a my Senior year rolled around I had set some very high standards for myself. I had a goal to place at the State meet and vault 15 feet, which would tie the record at Centennial High School. I started my season off great with taking first place in my first 5 meets vaulting 14 feet. As happy as I was, I still wasn't satisfied because I had not yet reached my 15 foot barrier. In the biggest meet of the year, besides Districts and State, I no heighted. It really tore me down. I didn't know what happened. The following two weeks I pulled myself together and got my team two more wins. The last of those two meets was the District qualifying meet, and I did qualify. I showed up to the District meet as ready as I'd ever be. I didn't enter the competition until the bar was raised to 13 feet, so I had a lot of time to get into focus. The bar finally was put up to 13 feet and I was given my two practice vaults. I got really nervous and my first practice vault wasn't so great. I went back to do my second vault and I told my self I was going to run as fast as I could and be as strong as I could. Well, I did just that and as a result my pole snapped in half in the middle of my vault. I would have to say that was one of the scariest moments in my life. I was okay, but I didn't have another pole of that same size. So I had to use a smaller one and ended up no heighting at Districts, which meant that I did not qualify for State. The next few days were just about the worst days of my life, until I received a call from my coach. He called me to tell me that he had written a petition and sent it to the officials in charge of the State meet stating my situation and asked that they allow me to compete. He told me that they accepted it and that I would be vaulting in the State meet that weekend. I walked into the meet very prepared and confident, putting all my previous experiences behind me. Once again I did not come into the competition until 13 feet. My first two attempts at 13 feet I knocked the bar down. I was nervous and my mind was going crazy, because I received a second chance at this opportunity and I thought I was going to blow it. My coach gave me a little pep talk that, to him, probably seemed pointless, but to me calmed my nerves. Thanks to him I cleared 13 feet on my last attempt and moved on. I went on to take first place clearing 15 feet, with my good friend taking second place right behind me and my teammate taking third place behind him. That became the happiest day of my life and my greatest achievement. I am not done with vaulting. I plan to go on to vault at BYU in Provo, Utah. There I will set a whole new bundle of goals.

Here is a video the my coach and I made my Junior year...

Works Cited

"Athlete Profile: Sergey Bubka." IAAF: Home of World Athletics-International Association of Athletics Federation. IAAF, 2012. Web. 6 Nov. 2012.

Callebat, Louis. “The Modern Olympic Games and Their Model in Antiquity.” International Journal of the Classic Tradition 4.4 (1998): 555-560. Web. 9 Oct. 2012.

De Castro, Dylan. “Ancient Pole Vaulting.” Thevaultermag.com. Vaulter Magazine LLC, Aug. 2012. Web. 24 Oct. 2012.

Griffin, Sharin. "Livestrong." Pole Vault History. Demand Media, Inc, 14 Jun 2011. Web. 7 Oct. 2012.

Johnson, Jan and Russ Versteeg. Illustrated History of the Pole Vault. Norwich: 2007. Web.

Swaddling, Judith. The Ancient Olympic Games. London: British Museum, 1999. 1-18. Print.

"The Olympic Games in Antiquity." Olympic Museum. 2007: 2-13. Web. 14 Sep. 2012. <http://www.olympic.org/Documents/Reports/EN/en_report_658.pdf>.

Wiltz, Jenni. “Origins of Pole Vaulting.” Livestrong. Demand Media, Inc., 26 May 2011. Web. 20 Oct. 2012.

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Sunday, December 2, 2012

The History Behind the Olympics and the Pole Vault

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