The Men's Pole Vault

Pole vault

Pole vaulting is a track and field event in which a person uses a long, flexible pole as an aid to leap over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the ancient Greeks, as well as the Cretans and Celts...

event at the 2004 Summer Olympics

2004 Summer Olympics

The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...

as part of the athletics program

Athletics at the 2004 Summer Olympics

At the 2004 Summer Olympics, the athletics events were held at the Athens Olympic Stadium from August 18 to August 29, except for the marathons , the race walks , and the shot put...

 was held at the Athens Olympic Stadium on August 25 and August 27.

In a most gripping of pole vault finals, Timothy Mack of the United States jumped a personal best and an Olympic record (5.95 metres) to succeed his countryman Nick Hysong

Nick Hysong

Nick Hysong is an American athlete competing in the men's pole vault. Best known for winning the Olympic gold medal in 2000 with a personal best jump of 5.90 metres, he also won a bronze medal at the 2001 World Championships in Athletics. Has excellent speed...

 as Olympic champion. The winning jump came on Mack’s third attempt and lifted the gold medal from out of the pocket of his teammate Toby Stevenson

Toby Stevenson

Toby "Crash" Stevenson is an Olympic class pole vaulter from the United States. He is known for being the only pole vaulter in the international elite to wear a helmet during jumps.-Biography:...

, who had followed Mack’s first-attempt 5.90 metres clearance with one of his own to stay ahead on the countback and until that time was heading for the win. Mack ended the competition with three unsuccessful tries at 6.00 metres, the final one tantalizingly close.

The competition among the sixteen finalists had entered its fourth hour as Mack, Stevenson and reigning World champion Giuseppe Gibilisco

Giuseppe Gibilisco

Giuseppe Gibilisco is an Italian pole vaulter, who won the 2003 World Championships with a personal best of 5.90 m. He followed this with a bronze medal in the 2004 Olympics.-Career:...

 separated themselves at 5.85 metres as the certain medallists. Only the ranking was left to be determined. As the two Americans each succeeded at 5.90 on their opening tries, Gibilisco failed and immediately passed to 5.95 metres, where he exited the competition with the bronze medal after two more misses.

All three eventual medallists had an anxious moment after they had jumped a first-round 5.75 metres and then elected to pass 5.80 metres. That allowed reigning World indoor champion Igor Pavlov a moment at the top of the standings after his PB-equalling 5.80 metres. But the Russian was not able to improve and finished in fourth place. Germany’s Danny Ecker

Danny Ecker

Danny Ecker is a German athlete competing in the pole vault.- Biography :His current personal best is 5.93 metres, but through his indoor best performance of 6.00 metres he has a place in the so-called 6 metres club. 5.93 ranks him fourth among German pole vaulters, behind Tim Lobinger, Andrei...

 and Lars Börgeling

Lars Börgeling

Lars Börgeling is a German pole vaulter.His personal best is 5.85 metres, achieved in July 2002 in Leverkusen. This ranks him sixth among German pole vaulters, behind Tim Lobinger, Andrei Tivontchik, Michael Stolle, Danny Ecker and Richard Spiegelburg. -Achievements:-External links:*...

 took fifth and sixth, respectively, with season-best jumps of 5.75.

Medalists

Gold
Silver
Bronze

Schedule

• All times are Eastern European Time
  Eastern European Time
  Eastern European Time is one of the names of UTC+02:00 time zone, 2 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. It is used in some European countries that also use Eastern European Summer Time as a summer daylight saving time.- Usage :...
  
   (UTC+2
  UTC+2
  UTC+02 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +02. In ISO 8601 the associated time would be written as . This time is used in:-Central Africa Time:*Botswana*Burundi*Democratic Republic of the Congo...
  
  )

  Qualification Round
  Group A	Group B
  25.08.2004 – 19:15h	25.08.2004 – 19:15h
  Final Round
  27.08.2004 – 20:00h

Abbreviations

Q	automatic qualification
q	qualification by rank
DNS	did not start
NM	no mark
WR	world record
AR	area record
OR	Olympic record
NR	national record
PB	personal best
SB	season best

Records

Standing records prior to the 2004 Summer Olympics
World Record		6.14 m	July 31, 1994	Sestrière Sestriere Sestriere is an alpine village in Italy, a comune of the Province of Turin. It is from the French border. Its name derives from Latin: ad petram sistrariam, that is at sixty Roman miles from Turin.... , Italy Italy Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
Olympic Record		5.92 m	August 2, 1996	Atlanta, United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

Heat 1

1.  Germany Lars Börgeling

Lars Börgeling

Lars Börgeling is a German pole vaulter.His personal best is 5.85 metres, achieved in July 2002 in Leverkusen. This ranks him sixth among German pole vaulters, behind Tim Lobinger, Andrei Tivontchik, Michael Stolle, Danny Ecker and Richard Spiegelburg. -Achievements:-External links:*...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 5.70 m Q =SB

1.  Russia Pavel Gerasimov, Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

 5.70 m Q

1.  Ukraine Ruslan Yeremenko

Ruslan Yeremenko

Ruslan Yeremenko is a Ukrainian pole vaulter.His personal best jump is 5.70 metres, achieved in July 2001 in Kiev. He had 5.84 metres on the indoor track, achieved in January 2005 in Stuttgart.-Achievements:-References:...

, Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

 5.70 m Q =SB

4.  United States Toby Stevenson

Toby Stevenson

Toby "Crash" Stevenson is an Olympic class pole vaulter from the United States. He is known for being the only pole vaulter in the international elite to wear a helmet during jumps.-Biography:...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 5.70 m Q

4.  Netherlands Rens Blom

Rens Blom

Rens Blom is a former Dutch athlete competing in pole vault.-Biography:He achieved the result of 5.75 as early as in 2000, but five years passed without much progression. However, on June 8, 2004 in Zaragoza he set the current Dutch record with 5.81...

, Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 5.70 m Q

6.  Italy Giuseppe Gibilisco

Giuseppe Gibilisco

Giuseppe Gibilisco is an Italian pole vaulter, who won the 2003 World Championships with a personal best of 5.90 m. He followed this with a bronze medal in the 2004 Olympics.-Career:...

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 5.70 m Q

7.  Japan Daichi Sawano

Daichi Sawano

is a Japanese pole vaulter.His personal best is 5.83 metres, achieved in May 2005 in Shizuoka.-Achievements:-External links:...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 5.70 m Q

8.  United States Derek Miles

Derek Miles

Derek Miles is an American pole vaulter, from Tea, South Dakota. A former pole vaulter for The University of South Dakota Track and Field team, Miles is currently an assistant coach for the Coyotes. Miles finished fourth in the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China. In 2004, he placed...

, United States 5.70 m Q

9.  France Romain Mesnil

Romain Mesnil

Romain Mesnil is a French pole vaulter. His personal best is 5.95 metres, achieved in August 2003 in Castres...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 5.65 m

10.  South Africa Okkert Brits

Okkert Brits

Okkert Brits is a South African athlete competing in the pole vault. His current personal best of 6.03m, set in 1995, is also the African record. He has won numerous medals at international events. He has competed in the 1996, 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games finishing 7th in 2000...

, South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

 5.60 m

11.  Czech Republic Adam Ptacek

Adam Ptácek

Adam Ptáček is a Czech pole vaulter.He won the bronze medal at the 1998 World Junior Championships, finished sixth at the 2002 European Championships and won the silver medal at the 2004 World Indoor Championships...

, Czech Republic

Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....

 5.50 m

11.  Finland Vesa Rantanen

Vesa Rantanen

Vesa Rantanen is a Finnish pole vaulter.He competed at the World Championships in 1997 and 1999, the 2002 European Championships and the 2004 Olympic Games without ever reaching the final....

, Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

 5.50 m

13.  Slovenia Jure Rovan, Slovenia

Slovenia

Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...

 5.50 m

14.  Bulgaria Spas Bukhalov

Spas Bukhalov

Spas Bukhalov is a Bulgarian pole vaulter.He won the 2001 Balkan Games and finished sixth at the 2007 European Indoor Championships. He also competed at the Olympic Games in 2004 as well as the World Championships in 2003 and 2007 without reaching the final.His personal best jump is 5.80 metres,...

, Bulgaria

Bulgaria

Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

 5.50 m

15.  Australia Steven Hooker

Steven Hooker

Steven Leslie "Steve" Hooker OAM is an Australian pole vaulter and Olympic gold medalist. His personal best is 6.06 m, making him the second highest pole-vaulter in history behind only Sergey Bubka.-Career:...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 5.30 m

16.  South Korea Kim Yoo-Suk

Kim Yoo-Suk

Kim Yoo Suk is a South Korean pole vaulter.He finished eighth at the 2003 Universiade. He also competed at the 2004 Olympic Games and the 2005 World Championships without reaching the final....

, South Korea

South Korea

The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

 5.30 m

16.  Greece Marios Evaggelou, Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

 5.30 m

 Russia Vadim Strogalev

Vadim Strogalev

Vadim Strogalev ; born 9 February 1975) is a retired Russian pole vaulter.He finished seventh at the 1997 World Championships in Athens and ninth at the 2003 World Championships in Paris.His personal best jump is 5.85 metres, achieved in May 1998 in Chania....

, Russia NM

 Kazakhstan Grigoriy Yegorov

Grigoriy Yegorov

Grigoriy Aleksandrovich Yegorov is a former pole vault athlete from Kazakhstan. Yegorov trained at Dynamo in Alma-Ata. He won the 1988 Olympic bronze medal , two World Indoor silver medals, and finished second at the 1993 World Championships in Athletics with a personal best jump of 5.90 metres...

, Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...

 NM

 People's Republic of China Feiliang Liu, China

People's Republic of China

China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

 NM

Heat 2

1.  Israel Aleksander Averbukh, Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

 5.70 m Q

1.  Australia Paul Burgess

Paul Burgess (athlete)

Paul Burgess is an Australian pole vaulter who become only the thirteenth pole vaulter in the world to reach 6 metres.-Biography:...

, Australia 5.70 m Q

3.  Russia Igor Pavlov, Russia 5.70 m Q

4.  Germany Danny Ecker

Danny Ecker

Danny Ecker is a German athlete competing in the pole vault.- Biography :His current personal best is 5.93 metres, but through his indoor best performance of 6.00 metres he has a place in the so-called 6 metres club. 5.93 ranks him fourth among German pole vaulters, behind Tim Lobinger, Andrei...

, Germany 5.70 m Q

5.  Ukraine Denys Yurchenko

Denys Yurchenko

Denys Sergiyovich Yurchenko is a Ukrainian pole vaulter with three medals in Indoor Athletics Championships. He also won the bronze medal in the men's pole vault event at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing....

, Ukraine 5.70 m Q

6.  United States Timothy Mack, United States 5.70 m Q

7.  Germany Tim Lobinger

Tim Lobinger

Tim Lobinger is a German pole vaulter.His discipline is pole vault and he has been an elite competitor since the 1990s. His best results came in 1997 and 1999 when he jumped over 6.00 meters...

, Germany 5.70 m Q

8.  Ukraine Oleksandr Korchmid

Oleksandr Korchmid

Oleksandr Korchmid is a Ukrainian pole vaulter.As a junior he won silver medals at the 1999 World Youth Championships and the 2000 World Junior Championships. He was also a gold medalist at the 2003 Summer Universiade and a bronze medalist at the 2005 Summer Universiade. He also competed in the...

, Ukraine 5.70 m Q =SB

9.  Finland Matti Mononen

Matti Mononen

Matti Mononen is a Finnish pole vaulter.He finished fourth at the 2006 European Athletics Championships in Gothenburg. He also competed in the 2004 Olympics, but failed to qualify from his pool, despite equalling his personal best vault of 5.65 metres.Currently his personal best is 5.70 metres,...

, Finland 5.65 m PB

10.  Sweden Patrik Kristiansson

Patrik Kristiansson

Arne Patrik Klüft is a Swedish pole vault athlete.He made his breakthrough in 1998 when he set a new Swedish record with 5.77 metres. In 2001 he jumped 5.83 and the following year 5.85...

, Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 5.60 m

11.  United Kingdom Nick Buckfield

Nick Buckfield

Nicholas Jean Buckfield is an English pole vaulter. His personal best jump is 5.80 metres, achieved in May 1998 in Chania. He has 5.81 metres on the indoor track, achieved in February 2002 in Bad Segeberg.-Achievements:...

, Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 5.60 m

12.  Australia Dmitri Markov

Dmitri Markov

Dmitri Markov is a retired Belarusian and Australian pole vaulter. He is a former world champion and current Oceanian record holder.-Biography:...

, Australia 5.50 m

13.  Denmark Piotr Buciarski

Piotr Buciarski

Piotr Buciarski is a Danish pole vaulter of Polish descent. He's the son of former Polish pole vaulter Wojciech Buciarski....

, Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

 5.50 m

14.  Czech Republic Stepan Janacek

Štepán Janácek

Štěpán Janáček is a Czech pole vaulter.He finished eighth at the 2001 World Indoor Championships, second at the 2001 Summer Universiade and fifth at the 2002 European Championships...

, Czech Republic 5.30 m

14.  Spain Javier Gazol, Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 5.30 m

16.  France Nicolas Guigon, France 5.30 m

16.  Poland Adam Kolasa

Adam Kolasa

Adam Kolasa is a Polish pole vaulter.He finished eighth at the 2001 World Championships in Edmonton in a personal best of 5.75 metres, won the 2001 Jeux de la Francophonie, finished fourth at the 2002 European Indoor Championships in Vienna and ninth at the 2003 World Championships in Paris...

, Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 5.30 m

 Mexico Giovanni Lanaro

Giovanni Lanaro

Giovanni Alessandro Lanaro is a Mexican pole vaulter.-Youth and college:Giovanni Lanaro attended West Covina High School in California; Lanaro pole vaulted as a freshman in high school but suffered a back injury as well as a fractured ankle skateboarding that prevented him from vaulting the next...

, Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

 NM

 Bulgaria Iliyan Efremov

Iliyan Efremov

Iliyan Efremov is a Bulgarian pole vaulter.He finished tenth at the 1988 World Junior Championships and thirteenth at the 2006 European Championships. He also won gold medals at the 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2002 and 2003 Balkan Games...

, Bulgaria NM

 Uzbekistan Leonid Andreev

Leonid Andreev (athlete)

Leonid Andreev is an Uzbekistani decathlete turned pole vaulter.He first competed in the decathlon, placing fourteenth at the 2000 World Junior Championships and winning the gold medal at the 2002 World Junior Championships....

, Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan , officially the Republic of Uzbekistan is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia and one of the six independent Turkic states. It shares borders with Kazakhstan to the west and to the north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east, and Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to the south....

DNS

Final

Rank	Athlete	5.40	5.55	5.65	5.75	5.80	5.85	5.90	5.95	6.00	Result	Notes
			o	xo	o		xo	o	xxo	xxx	5.95	OR
			o	o	o		xo	o	xxx		5.90
			xo		o	o		x	xx		5.85	SB

4. Igor Pavlov, Russia 5.80 m PB

5. Danny Ecker, Germany 5.75 m SB

6. Lars Börgeling, Germany 5.75 m SB

7. Derek Miles, United States 5.75 m

8. Aleksandr Averbukh, Israel 5.65 m

9. Denys Yurchenko, Ukraine 5.65 m

9. Rens Blom, Netherlands 5.65 m

11. Paul Burgess, Australia 5.55 m

11. Tim Lobinger, Germany 5.55 m

13. Pavel Gerasimov, Russia 5.55 m

13. Daichi Sawano, Japan 5.55 m

13. Ruslan Yeremenko, Ukraine 5.55 m

16. Oleksandr Korchmid, Ukraine 5.55 m

Legend

• Q - Qualified
• SB - Season Best
• =SB - Equal Season Best
• PB - Personal Best
• OR - Olympic Record