Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Men's pole vault



The men's pole vault was a competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom. The event was held at the Olympic Stadium on 8–10 August. Thirty-two athletes from 23 nations competed. The event was won by Renaud Lavillenie of France, the nation's first victory in the event since 1996 and third overall. Björn Otto and Raphael Holzdeppe of Germany took silver and bronze, respectively; like France, it was the first time since 1996 that Germany reached the men's pole vault podium.

Summary
Nobody took an attempt at the auto-qualifying mark. As it turned out, it took a clean round through 5.50 to make the final.

Four of the 14 finalists only cleared 5.50. Four passed to 5.65 where defending champion, oft injured Steven Hooker and former world champion Brad Walker failed to clear their opening height. The medals were decided at 5.85, Renaud Lavillenie clearing on his first attempt, Björn Otto on the second and Raphael Holzdeppe on his third. The two Germans cleared 5.91 on their first attempt, while Lavillenie missed. So Lavillenie strategically passed to 5.97. On his second attempt, it was all or nothing. Lavillenie cleared it cleanly. In silver medal position on fewer misses, Otto passed to hope for a miracle at 6.02 while Holzdeppe failed at 5.97 and took the bronze. Otto's attempt at 6.02 was close but a failure. With the gold in hand Lavillenie took his remaining couple of attempts at 6.07.

During one part of the competition, Cuban Lázaro Borges was attempting to mark 5.35 metres when his pole broke into three large pieces (and at least two small ones). The incident has been used in several Olympic bloopers videos.

Background
This was the 27th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. The top five finalists from the 2008 Games returned: gold medalist Steven Hooker of Australia, silver medalist Yevgeny Lukyanenko of Russia, bronze medalist (later stripped) Denys Yurchenko of Ukraine, fourth-place finisher (later upgraded to bronze medalist) Derek Miles of the United States, and fifth-place finisher Dmitry Starodubtsev of Russia. Other returning finalists were Raphael Holzdeppe of Germany and Jan Kudlička of the Czech Republic. Renaud Lavillenie of France had taken third at the last two world championships and was favored to win, over reigning world champion Paweł Wojciechowski of Poland.

Croatia made its men's pole vaulting debut. The United States made its 26th appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.

Qualification
A National Olympic Committee (NOC) could enter up to 3 qualified athletes in the men's pole vault event if all athletes met the A standard, or 1 athlete if they met the B standard. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The qualifying height standards could be obtained in various meets during the qualifying period that had the approval of the IAAF. Both outdoor and indoor meets were eligible. The A standard for the 2012 men's pole vault was 5.72 metres; the B standard was 5.60 metres. The qualifying period for was from 1 May 2011 to 8 July 2012. NOCs could also have an athlete enter the pole vault through a universality place. NOCs could enter one male athlete in an athletics event, regardless of height, if they had no male athletes meeting the qualifying A or B standards in any men's athletic event.

Competition format
The competition consisted of two rounds, qualification and final. In qualification, each athlete had three attempts at each height and was eliminated if he failed to clear any height. Athletes who successfully jumped the qualifying height moved on the final. If fewer than 12 reached that height, the best 12 moved on. Cleared heights reset for the final, which followed the same three-attempts-per-height format until all athletes reached a height they could not jump.

Records
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows:

Renaud Lavillenie cleared 5.97 metres to win the gold medal and set a new Olympic record.

Schedule
All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1)

Qualifying round
Qual. rule: qualification standard 5.70m (Q) or at least best 12 (q) qualified.