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

This was the 17th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. The returning finalists from the 1968 Games were gold medalist Bob Seagren of the United States, bronze medalist Wolfgang Nordwig of East Germany, fourth-place finisher Christos Papanikolaou of Greece, seventh-place finisher (and 1964 finalist) Hervé d'Encausse of France, tenth-place finisher Kjell Isaksson of Sweden, and thirteenth-place finisher Mike Bull of Great Britain. Seagren, Nordwig, Papanikolaou, and Isaksson had all held the world record at some point since the Mexico City Games; Seagren came into Munich with the record at 5.63 metres. He and Isaksson were the favorites, with Nordwig a strong contender—at least until the former two had to change poles.[2]

For the third time in Olympic history, no nation made its debut in the event. The United States made its 17th 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 4.60 metres, 4.80 metres, 5.00 metres, and 5.10 metres. All vaulters clearing 5.10 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 4.80 metres, 5.00 metres, 5.10 metres, 5.20 metres, 5.30 metres, and then increased by 5 centimetres as a time.[2][3]

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

World record	Bob Seagren (USA)	5.63	Eugene, United States	2 July 1972
Olympic record	Bob Seagren (USA)  Claus Schiprowski (FRG)  Wolfgang Nordwig (GDR)	5.40	Mexico City, Mexico	16 October 1968

Bob Seagren and Wolfgang Nordwig each cleared 5.40 metres to match their shared Olympic record; only Nordwig was able to clear 5.45 metres to break it. He also succeeded at 5.50 to set the new Olympic mark there.

Key

All heights are listed in metres.

Qualifying

All jumpers reaching 5.10 m (16 ft 9 in) and the top 12 including ties qualified for the finals. No vaulters had any failures at 4.60 metres (all either passed or cleared on the first try, though the Official Report does not indicate which for each vaulter).

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Group	4.80	5.00	5.10	Height	Notes
1	Antti Kalliomäki	Finland	A	—	—	o	5.10	Q
	Wolfgang Nordwig	East Germany	A	—	—	o	5.10	Q
3	Bruce Simpson	Canada	B	—	o	o	5.10	Q
	Hervé d’Encausse	France	A	—	o	o	5.10	Q
5	Reinhard Kuretzky	West Germany	B	o	o	o	5.10	Q
6	François Tracanelli	France	B	—	—	xo	5.10	Q
	Bob Seagren	United States	A	—	—	xo	5.10	Q
8	Hans Lagerqvist	Sweden	A	—	o	xo	5.10	Q
9	Volker Ohl	West Germany	A	o	o	xo	5.10	Q
10	Jan Johnson	United States	A	o	xo	xo	5.10	Q
11	Tadeusz Ślusarski	Poland	B	—	o	xxx	5.00	q
12	Wojciech Buciarski	Poland	B	—	xo	xxx	5.00	q
13	Khristos Papanikolaou	Greece	A	xxo	xo	xxx	5.00	q
14	Ingemar Jernberg	Sweden	B	xo	xxo	xxx	5.00	q
15	Silvio Fraquelli	Italy	B	o	xxx	N/A	4.80
16	Ray Boyd	Australia	B	xo	xxx	N/A	4.80
	Mike Bull	Great Britain	B	xo	xxx	N/A	4.80
18	Steve Smith	United States	A	xxo	xxx	N/A	4.80
—	Kjell Isaksson	Sweden	A	—	xxx	N/A	No mark
	Kirk Bryde	Canada	B	xxx	N/A		No mark
	Renato Dionisi	Italy	A	xxx	N/A		No mark
—	Abass Goudiaby	Senegal	B	DNS

Final

Rank	Athlete	Nation	4.80	5.00	5.10	5.20	5.30	5.35	5.40	5.45	5.50	5.56	Height	Notes
	Wolfgang Nordwig	East Germany	—	—	o	—	xo	o	xo	o	xxo	xxx	5.50	OR
	Bob Seagren	United States	—	—	—	o	—	o	xxo	xxx	N/A		5.40
	Jan Johnson	United States	—	—	—	xo	—	xo	xxx	N/A			5.35
4	Reinhard Kuretzky	West Germany	o	xo	xxo	xo	o	xxx	N/A				5.30
5	Bruce Simpson	Canada	—	o	xxo	o	xxx	N/A					5.20
6	Volker Ohl	West Germany	—	—	xo	xo	xxx	N/A					5.20
7	Hans Lagerqvist	Sweden	—	xo	—	xxo	xxx	N/A					5.20
8	François Tracanelli	France	—	—	o	—	xxx	N/A					5.10
9	Ingemar Jernberg	Sweden	—	xxo	xo	xxx	N/A						5.10
10	Wojciech Buciarski	Poland	—	o	—	xxx	N/A						5.00
11	Khristos Papanikolaou	Greece	o	o	—	xxx	N/A						5.00
—	Antti Kalliomäki	Finland	—	—	—	xxx	N/A						No mark
	Hervé d’Encausse	France	—	—	xxx	N/A							No mark
	Tadeusz Ślusarski	Poland	—	xxx	N/A								No mark

• Official report