Pole vaulting is a sport that uses muscles from all over the body. According to Michael Marek, former University of Wisconsin vaulter and current high school pole vaulting coach, pole vaulters require excellent core and upper-body strength along with powerful legs. The act of pole vaulting is lifting yourself with a pole and then pushing off that pole to fly over a bar usually set at a height of more than 10 feet. As if that is not difficult enough, you have to use speed when approaching the pit so your forward motion will carry you up and over the bar.
Core
The upward swing of the legs to vertically position the body uses the abdominal muscles. You shorten the distance between your ribs and hips, which contracts the rectus abdominus, the main muscle that runs the length of your Continue reading
Bob Richards won three Olympic Medals in the pole vault: Bronze in 1948 in London, Gold in 1952 in Helsinki and Gold in 1956 in Melbourne. He is the only man to win two Gold Medals and three total medals in the pole vault. Bob’s pole vault championships include 17 AAU National titles, the 1951 and 1955 Pan American Games Gold Medals and 11 consecutive Millrose Games victories. He also competed in the 1956 Olympic Decathlon, finishing 12th and won three national decathlon titles. Bob was the second man to pole vault 15 feet which he achieved 126 times in his career. He was the 1947 Big Ten Conference and NCAA Champion in the pole vault. Bob was named the 1951 Sullivan Award winner as the nation’s top amateur athlete. He was the first athlete to appear on the front of Wheaties cereal boxes and was the first Wheaties spokesman. Bob is an ordained minister and motivational speaker who has given over 3,000 speeches. He has been inducted into seven athletic and three speakers Halls of Fame including the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame in 1983 and the United States National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1975. His life was depicted in a made-for-television movie titled ‘Leap of Faith,’ broadcast on Jan. 15, 1957. The 86 year old resides in Sanco, Texas. He has four sons, who were all excellent athletes and pole vaulters, two grandchildren and five great-grandchildren 
Trey Hardee, Team USA Decathlon
Former Phillipsburg High School standout athlete Matt Deery died today after crashing head-on into a truck in Upper Nazareth Township, police said.Police outside the home of Deery’s mother in Alpha confirmed the football player and pole vaulter died in the crash.Deery, 19, graduated from Phillipsburg High School last year and attended Lipscomb 
University in Nashville, Tenn., on a track scholarship.“It’s a tragedy beyond proportion,” Phillipsburg Superintendent George Chando said Wednesday night. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family having to deal with this tragedy.”Deery was driving in a Jeep about 4 p.m. west along Newburg Road, then swerved into the eastbound lane to avoid striking a Nissan Altima turning onto Werner Road, according to Upper Nazareth Township Police Chief Alan Siegfried. The Jeep then struck a truck cab driving on Newburg Road, Siegfried said.“It’s pretty clear what happened,” Siegfried said after interviewing witnesses.Deery was a two-sport athlete at Phillipsburg High School — a wide receiver and cornerback on the football team, and a hurdler and pole vaulter on the track and field team. Deery excelled in both the hurdles and pole vault in track and field. He is the Warren County record holder in the pole vault at 14 feet, 6 inches and finished second at the NJSIAA Meet of Champions with a vault of 15-0.
Lacy Janson
United States of America
Becky Holliday
Jennifer Suhr
Silke Spiegelburg is among the better-known members of the German track and field team. The pole vaulter is coached by her father, and takes after her three brothers.When a young girl grows up with three older brothers, some of the things the boys like to do get rubbed off, like soccer, cars, or – in the case of Silke Spiegelburg and her three brothers – pole vaulting. Spiegelburg remembers watching her brothers practice as a kid.”I thought it was really fascinating how they fell into that huge mat,” the 26-year-old recalls. “This moment of flying. My dad noticed that I wanted to do it too and he gave the OK.”At first, the moment of flying was pretty short.”That was really depressing, I was always back down so quickly with those first few meters I jumped,” she said. But that just made her want to keep going higher and higher.”That just makes the flight even longer, and that’s my goal – to let the flight go on for as long as possible!”4.8 meters for a medalThose flights have carried Spiegelburg to a personal best height of 4.76 meters (15 feet, 7.4 inches). But the bar is going to be even higher at the Olympics in London.”I think it will take a vault of around 4.8 meters to get a medal,” she said. “At the world championship you could already see that the international competition is very strong and it was clear again this winter.” 
