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


The Men's pole vault competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom. The event was held at the Olympic Stadium on 8–10 August.
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 pieces. The incident has been used in several Olympic bloopers videos.

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.

Schedule

All times are British Summer Time
DateTimeRound
Wednesday, 8 August 201210:00Qualifications
Friday, 10 August 201219:00Finals

Records

Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.
World record6.14 m ASestriere, Italy31 July 1994
Olympic record5.96 mBeijing, China22 August 2008
2012 World leading5.97 mHelsinki, Finland1 July 2012

The following new Olympic record was set during this competition:
DateEventAthleteTimeNotes
10 AugustFinal5.97OR

Results

Qualifying round

Qual. rule: qualification standard 5.70m or at least best 12 qualified.
RankGroupNameNationality5.205.355.505.605.65ResultNotes
1BRaphael Holzdeppe–––xoo5.65q
1BRenaud Lavillenie––xo-o5.65q
3AKonstadinos Filippidis–ooo-5.60q
4AYevgeny Lukyanenko––xxoo-5.60q
4ARomain Mesnil–xooxo-5.60q
4BBrad Walker––xxoo-5.60q
7BDmitry Starodubtsev–xoxoxo-5.60DSQ
8AŁukasz Michalski–xoxxoxo-5.60q
9BIgor Bychkovo-oxx-x5.50q
9ASteve Hooker–-o--5.50q
9BJan Kudlička–oo--5.50q
9ASteven Lewis––o--5.50q
9AMalte Mohr--o--5.50q
9ABjörn Otto––o--5.50q
15AJeremy Scott–oxoxxx-5.50
16BLázaro Borges–xxoxoxxx-5.50
16BSergey Kucheryanu–xxoxoxxx-5.50
18BNikita Filippovooxxx--5.35
18AMaksym Mazuryk-oxxx--5.35DSQ
20AIvan Horvatoxoxxx--5.35
20BYang Yansheng-xoxxx--5.35
22BMareks Ārentsxoxoxxx--5.35
23BStanislau Tsivonchykxoxxx---5.20
24AEdi Maiaxxoxxx---5.20
BJere Bergius-xxx---NM
AFábio Gomes da Silva––xxx--NM
BAlhaji Jeng-xxx---NM
AKim Yoo-Sukxxx----NM
BDerek Milesxxx----NM
BPaweł Wojciechowski-xxx---NM
ASeito Yamamoto-xxx---NM
BDenys Yurchenko-xxx---NM

Final

RankNameNationality5.505.655.755.855.915.976.026.07ResultNotes
Renaud Lavillenie–ooox-xox-xx5.97OR
Björn Ottoooxoxooxx-x5.91
Raphael Holzdeppe–xoxoxxooxxx5.91PB
Steven Lewisxo–xoxxx5.75
Yevgeny Lukyanenkoxo–xoxxx5.75SB
Konstadinos Filippidisoxoxxx5.65
Jan Kudličkaoxxoxxx5.65
Malte Mohro–xxx5.50
Romain Mesniloxxx5.50
10Łukasz Michalskixoxxx5.50
11Igor Bychkovxxoxxx5.50
Brad Walker–xxx'
Steve Hooker–xxx'
-Dmitry Starodubtsevoxooxxx5.75DSQ