Athletics at the 1960 Summer Olympics – Men's pole vault

This was the 14th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. The returning finalists from the 1956 Games were bronze medalist Georgios Roubanis of Greece, seventh-place finisher Eeles Landström of Finland, eighth-place finisher Manfred Preußger of the United Team of Germany, and fourteenth-place finisher Matti Sutinen of Finland. Ninth-place finisher Vladimir Bulatov of the Soviet Union was entered and expected to contend (he was ranked 5th in the world in 1959), but broke his ankle in warm-ups. Don Bragg of the United States was the favorite after breaking the world record at the U.S. trials.[2]

Bulgaria, Iraq, Nigeria, and Turkey each made their first appearance in the event; Germany competed as the "United Team of Germany" for the first time. The United States made its 14th appearance, the only nation to have competed at every Olympic men's pole vault to that point.

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. At the time, total attempts was used after total misses.

In the qualifying round, the bar was set at 3.80 metres, 4.00 metres, 4.20 metres, 4.30 metres, and 4.40 metres. All vaulters clearing 4.40 metres advanced to the final. If fewer than 12 cleared that height, the top 12 (including ties) advanced.

In the final, the bar was set at 4.00 metres, 4.20 metres, 4.30 metres, 4.50 metres, 4.55 metres, 4.60 metres, and 4.70 metres; the winner could attempt further height to break a record.[2][3]

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

World record	Don Bragg (USA)	4.77	Modesto, United States	23 May 1942
Olympic record	Bob Richards (USA)	4.56	Melbourne, Australia	26 November 1956

Don Bragg and Ron Morris beat the Olympic record, clearing 4.60 metres. Bragg was also successful at 4.70 metres, setting the new mark.

All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)

Key

Top twelve jumpers and ties and all jumpers reaching 4.40 metres advanced to the finals. All heights are listed in metres.

Qualifying

Rank	Athlete	Nation	3.80	4.00	4.20	4.30	4.40	Height	Notes
1	Khristo Khristov	Bulgaria	—	o	o	o	o	4.40	Q
	Matti Sutinen	Finland	—	o	o	o	o	4.40	Q
3	Don Bragg	United States	—	—	o	xo	o	4.40	Q
4	Eeles Landström	Finland	—	o	o	xo	o	4.40	Q
	Günter Malcher	United Team of Germany	—	o	xo	o	o	4.40	Q
6	Rudolf Tomášek	Czechoslovakia	o	xo	o	o	o	4.40	Q
7	Leon Lukman	Yugoslavia	—	o	xxo	o	o	4.40	Q
8	Rolando Cruz	Puerto Rico	—	o	o	o	xxo	4.40	Q
	Ihor Petrenko	Soviet Union	—	o	o	o	xxo	4.40	Q
10	Jānis Krasovskis	Soviet Union	—	—	o	xo	xxo	4.40	Q
11	Ron Morris	United States	—	—	o	o	xxx	4.30	q
12	Dimitar Khlebarov	Bulgaria	—	o	o	o	xxx	4.30	q
	Andrzej Krzesiński	Poland	—	o	o	o	xxx	4.30	q
14	Peter Laufer	United Team of Germany	—	o	o	—	xxx	4.20
	Manfred Preußger	United Team of Germany	—	o	o	—	xxx	4.20
	Roman Lešek	Yugoslavia	—	o	o	xxx	N/A	4.20
	Valbjörn Þorláksson	Iceland	—	o	o	xxx	N/A	4.20
18	Dave Clark	United States	o	o	o	xxx	N/A	4.20
	Janusz Gronowski	Poland	o	o	o	xxx	N/A	4.20
	Georgios Roubanis	Greece	o	o	o	xxx	N/A	4.20
	Victor Sillon	France	o	o	o	xxx	N/A	4.20
22	Noriaki Yasuda	Japan	—	xxo	o	xxx	N/A	4.20
23	Bjørn Andersen	Denmark	—	o	xxx	N/A		4.00
	Gérard Barras	Switzerland	—	o	xxx	N/A		4.00
	Raymond Van Dijck	Belgium	—	o	xxx	N/A		4.00
26	Allah Ditta	Pakistan	xo	o	xxx	N/A		4.00
—	Owen Okundaye	Nigeria	xxx	N/A				No mark
	Mohamed Abdullah	Iraq	xxx	N/A				No mark
	Orhan Altan	Turkey	xxx	N/A				No mark
—	Vladimir Bulatov	Soviet Union	DNS

Final

Rank	Athlete	Nation	4.00	4.20	4.30	4.40	4.50	4.55	4.60	4.70	4.82	Height	Notes
	Don Bragg	United States	—	—	o	xo	o	o	o	o	xxx	4.70	OR
	Ron Morris	United States	—	—	o	o	xo	o	xo	xxx	N/A	4.60
	Eeles Landström	Finland	—	o	—	xo	xo	o	xxx	N/A		4.55
4	Rolando Cruz	Puerto Rico	o	o	o	o	o	xo	xxx	N/A		4.55
5	Günter Malcher	United Team of Germany	—	o	o	o	o	xxx	N/A			4.50
6	Ihor Petrenko	Soviet Union	—	o	—	xxo	o	xxx	N/A			4.50
	Matti Sutinen	Finland	—	o	—	xxo	o	xxx	N/A			4.50
8	Rudolf Tomášek	Czechoslovakia	o	o	o	xxo	o	xxx	N/A			4.50
9	Leon Lukman	Yugoslavia	o	o	o	o	xxx	N/A				4.40
10	Khristo Khristov	Bulgaria	—	xo	o	o	xxx	N/A				4.40
11	Dimitar Khlebarov	Bulgaria	—	o	o	xxx	N/A					4.30
12	Andrzej Krzesiński	Poland	o	o	o	xxx	N/A					4.30
13	Jānis Krasovskis	Soviet Union	—	—	xo	xxx	N/A					4.30