********************************************************** The Pole Vault World According to Gus Volume #05 Issue #27 Miss Sell a Knee Us 02/28/00 ********************************************************** Intro Additions and Corrections Results Full Canadian Pole Vault Summit Results Nike Last Chance Qualifier (Toronto, Canada) MIAA Championships (Warrensburg, MO) Joey Woody's International Superstars Invitational High School Confidential More on the European Championships The European Championships According to Warren Hill Part 2 The European Championships According to Roger Ruth Postings from the Peanut Gallery More Regarding Stacy Dragila's WR A Discussion on the Overhauling of T&F Rules The Rules Changes According to Shawn Devereaux The Rules Changes According to Roger Ruth The Rules Changes According to the Peanut Gallery Outro ===== Intro ===== Whoa! Look at the time! Bugger to the intro - I gotta get the lists done... ========================= Additions and Corrections ========================= posted by John Rhodes : "Weird deal in the women's vault. A girl from Tennessee named Love was looking real good but then all the coaches were saying she made the finals in the 400 and didn't report. Sure enough after she cleared 12'4 with no misses they called for the field event referee to come over and he told her she was out. She had looked to be the class of the field. I wonder why her coach had her in the 400 in the first place? I don't know the girl but you couldn't help but feel sorry for her. John" VaultnGus sez : I saw the DQ result for Lesley and I wondered what the heck happened. I assumed it was just a person who didn't know what they were doing marking a no height. One of those "honest effort" things I guess. "s a good question - why was she in the 400 in the first place? Was she one of the top seeds? Here's the full story from the Tennessee web site : FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - The University of Tennessee women's track and field team, already limited by injuries to key personnel prior to the meet, was smacked with another challenge on the second and final day of the Southeastern Conference Indoor Championships on Sunday at the University of Arkansas' Randal Tyson Track Center. Those hardships contributed to a disheartening 35-point, eighth-place finish. A major Tennessee scoring threat was dealt a crushing blow when senior pole vaulter Lesly Love was disqualified from the event midway through the competition. A victim of her own talent, Love was scheduled to run the 400m dash finals at the same time the vault was going on. The Lady Vol staff was lobbying to get Love out of the race so she could focus on the vault and was under the assumption that its request would be granted. Formal clarification was late in coming, however, and Love was not in the blocks when the starter's gun sounded. It proved to be costly to the SEC's top ranked vaulter and to UT. According to the SEC's "honest effort rule", a competitor slated for the finals of an event must show up and demonstrate a legitimate effort to win. Love's failure to run in the race violated that rule, and UT's protests to meet officials to reinstate Love because of the last minute appeal were denied. Therefore, Love was immediately ineligible to compete in the vault and could no longer run on UT's distance medley relay, an event that was attempting to land an NCAA qualifying mark. "Lesly's disqualification was a huge blow to an already thin squad," UT head coach Myrtle Ferguson said. "We left the equivalent of 4 1/3 scholarships at home because of injuries and so forth, and we could not afford to have something like that happen. My hat's off to people who performed well today, such as Christie Elwin, Heather Sumpter and our shot putters. With our situation, we needed everyone to be on today, and that didn't happen." Despite the loss of Love in the vault, Christie Elwin and Beth Gehring helped the Big Orange collect 14 points. Elwin, a freshman from Adelaide, Australia, who had no-heighted in her past three meets, came through when it counted with a season's best clearance of 12-8. That mark established a new UT record, supplanting Tracy Carrington's mark of 12-7.50 from last year's NCAA indoor meet. It also gives UT a chance to send three vaulters to this year's national meet, although Love and Gehring are very much on the bubble. Gehring, meanwhile, placed third at 12-4 and provided Tennessee with a top-five finish in that event for the third straight year. ----- posted by - sarah - : "Mountain Pacific Conference Championships - What about Tracy O'Hara?" VaultnGus replied : "Y'know I was so busy compiling the results I didn't even stop to look at them. Tracy didn't jump. Erica Hoernig did not jump either. On further review UCLA only scored 18 points as a team in this meet finishing 10th out of 11 teams, which leads me to believe that they rested all their big guns - saving them either for the USATF National Championships next weekend or the NCAA Championships in two weeks. Anyways that's my guess and I'm sticking to it :-)" ----- posted by Laura Duncan : You wrote: <<2 Hasenauer, Amanda 03 United States Naval 3.69m 12'01.25>> This girl was about 8 inches over 12-1, but peaked about 15 cm in front of the bar and came down on it... look out for her! " ----- posted by Jason Church : "Kansas has also had 7 vaulters over 18. Jeff Buckingham 18-10.75 Pat Manson 18-8.25 Scott Huffman 18-6.5 Cam Miller 18-6.5 Chris Bohanan 18-3.25 John Bazzoni 18-1.5 Cedric Fullard 18-0 In 1989, Fullard, Miller, and Manson averaged 18-5 between them, the best trio in history. All coached by Rick Attig. Jason Church" ----- posted by Bubba Sparks : "We fixed a few things on Lesa's take-off at the bottom of this page are the photos. http://www.star-pt.com/lesa.html Pete was blowing through pole big time as well yesterday, but here are a few photos of his improving technique. http://www.star-pt.com/pete.html" VaultnGus sez : "Geez what style! what grace! an aesthetically beautiful vault! Oh yeah and Lesa looked pretty good too :-)" ======= Results ======= --------------------------------------- Full Canadian Pole Vault Summit Results --------------------------------------- posted by the Labatt's Light poster boy, Bill Gillespie : "Hey all, sorry for the extreme overdue nature of these results, but it was due to circumstances beyond our control (nice politician answer hey?) Anyway, these should be accurate, but please forward any minor corrections to me and I'll fix them pronto. Up & Coming Men 1. David Purdy Riversdale (Saskatoon) 2.85 2. Steve Leddy Ross Sheppard High School 2.60 3. Kyle Hendrickson Ross Sheppard High School 2.60 4. Taylor Petrucha Riversdale 2.45 5. Robbie McInnes Ross Sheppard High School 2.25 6. Aaron Schooler St. Kevin's Elementary School 2.10 7. Steve Ingram Ross Sheppard High School 2.10 8. James Woychesn Ross Sheppard High School 2.10 Up & Coming Women 1. Tamara Looysen Riversdale 2.40 2. Heather Jones University of Lethbridge 2.40 3. April Newell U Saskatchewan 2.30 4. Rachel Hogan Pearlgate Track and Field 2.20 5. Marla Foat Cremona High School 2.20 Intermediate Men 1. Doug Pearcey Capital City Track Club 3.55 2. Daniel Hogarth Pearlgate Track and Field 3.55 3. Matt Dunn U Saskatchewan 3.25 4. Adam Hogarth Pearlgate Track and Field 3.25 5. Scott Richardson Cremona High School 3.15 6. Matthew Mulloy Pearlgate Track and Field 3.05 7. Dillon Petrucha Riversdale 2.90 Brett Hoffman U Saskatchewan DNS Intermediate Women (note Int. and open women comp. was combined due to small number of entries) 1. Keri Henrichs Riversdale 2.91 2. Adrienne Vangool Riversdale 2.61 3. Leanne Forgues U Saskatchewan 2.46 Open Men 1. Rob Hanson Riversdale 4.49 2. Doug Ross Pronghorn Track and Field 4.10 3. Dave Hogarth Pearlgate Track and Field 4.10 4. Graham Danziger Valley Royals Track Club 3.90 5. Rick Petrucha Riversdale 3.75 6. Andrew Wellwood Capital City Track Club 3.75 6. Jeremy Bruns Capital City Track Club 3.75 8. Mike Archambault Capital City Track Club 3.60 Adam Toffan Winnipeg Optimist Track Club NH Mike Froom Capital City Track Club NH Open Women 1. Arielle Mitchell Lethbridge Track and Field Club 3.21 2. Joni Parkinson University of Alberta 3.06 3. Kelcey Stilwell Capital City Track Club 3.06 4. Leanne Mancer Winnipeg Optimist Track CLub 2.91 5. Julia Galellis Capital City Track Club 2.76 Courtney Ewaschuk Capital City Track Club NH Elite Men 1. Ryan Hvidston U Saskatchewan 4.85 2. Brad Young Capital City Track Club 4.75 3. Jeff Hayhoe York University Track Club 4.60 4. Jason Gordon Capital City Track Club 4.60 4. Scott McCubbing Riversdale 4.60 6. Jamie Johnson Capital City Track Club 4.60 7. Scot Dressler Capital City Track Club 4.45 Ian Bashnick Regina Wheat City Kinsman NH Elite Women 1. Jackie Honey Sky Athletics 3.91 2. Ardin Harrison Sky Athletics 3.81 3. Rebecca Chambers University of Toronto Track Club 3.66 4. Karla McGee Lethbridge Track and Field Club 3.51 4. Suzanne Fish University of Toronto 3.51 6. Kristen Hagel U Saskatchewan 3.51 7. Terry Milot Capital City Track Club 3.51 8. Brynn Anderson Lethbridge Track and Field Club 3.21 9. Sara Shymko U Saskatchewan 3.06" and from Doug Ross : "Vaulters I have a page ready with the above mentioned results and photos. I am hoping to add more photos as they become available to me. (hint hint, send em in if ya got em...). The page is at http://www.speedandpower.com/vault/00summit.shtml With links from the results page http://www.speedandpower.com/vault/results.shtml and the photo page http://www.speedandpower.com/vault/bio.shtml Im already looking forward to next years summit. Doug" //////// 02/25/00 //////// -------------------------------------------- Nike Last Chance Qualifier (Toronto, Canada) -------------------------------------------- posted by PV Canada guru Doug Ross : 1 creighton, janice University of Toron 3.20m 2 Ireland, Charlotte University of Toron 3.00m 3 Jeffery, Roberta Queens University 2.80m 4 Hickey, Christine University of Winds 2.80m 5 Meffe, Christine University of Toron 2.60m 6 Outler, Kristen University of Toron 2.40m 7 Glover, Sarah University of Guelp 2.40m 8 Proulx, Andrea Queens University 2.40m 9 Vaughn, Katheryne University of Toron 2.20m 9 Wong, Emma Queens University 2.20m - Zarnett, Dara Queens University NH - Pa, Heather University of Winds NH - Katz, Sarah York University NH 1 Tham, Jason University of Water 4.10m 2 Creighton, David Queens University 3.80m 3 Holim, Adam University of Toron 3.80m 4 Pires, Victor University of Toron 3.20m //////// 02/26/00 //////// ------------------------------------ MIAA Championships (Warrensburg, MO) ------------------------------------ 1 Nik Kassler Pittsburg State 4.61m 15'01.50 2 Aaron Crossley Central Missouri 4.61m 15'01.50 3 Nathan Peck Emporia State 4.51m 14'09.50 3 Justus Ball Pittsburg State 4.51m 14'09.50 5 Josh Roberts Central Missouri 4.51m 14'09.50 6 T.J. Hennegin Northwest Missouri 4.51m 14'09.50 7 Gavin Johnson Northwest Missouri 4.26m 13'11.75 8 Chuck Abele Northwest Missouri 4.26m 13'11.75 9 Tommy Leslie Northwest Missouri 4.16m 13'07.75 10 Mike Harvey Emporia State 4.11m 13'05.75 11 Gerrad Bard Central Missouri 4.11m 13'05.75 - Andrei Skvortsov Central Missouri NH - Dan Culp Missouri Southern NH - Seth Isringhausen Missouri Southern NH //////// 02/27/00 //////// -------------------------------------------------- Joey Woody's International Superstars Invitational (Cedar Falls, IA) -------------------------------------------------- results blatantly stolen from Sky Athletics since I couldn't find mention of 'em anywhere else... http://www.skyathletics.com/ 1. Kelly Suttle 14-06 (4.42) 2. Kim Becker ??? 1. Nick Hysong 19-00 3/4 (5.81) missed 19-06 3/4 (5.96) AR just barely... 2. Jeff Hartwig 18-07 (5.66) 3. Ruhan Isim (TUR) 18-07 (5.66) 4. Scott Slover 18-03 (5.56) 5. Tye Harvey 18-03 (5.56) ======================== High School Confidential ======================== posted by BJM6784 : "Gus, Brandon McFarling a ninth grader at A&M Consolidated high school in College Station Texas jumped 15 feet on 2/24/00 at the Bryan viking relays. Thanks" ----- posted by Phil Wilson : "Gus, Have to pass this one on to you. Ken Wilson from Lewisville High School (TX) vaulted 15'3" this past Saturday (2/26) at the Dr. Napoleon Lewis Invitational. Thanks for keeping the list. Phil" ----- on http://www.dyestat.rivals.com/ there is a poll as to who will be the first high school gal over 13 feet this year - vote for your favorite at the above link... Your choices : (1) Chelo Canino of Florida (2) Corrie Drakulich of Clackamas, Oregon (3) Molly Lederman of Newton, Massachusetts (4) Amy Linnen of Mt. Sinai, New York (5) Sara Sasaki of Oregon (6) Samantha Shepard of Weston, MA right now after 3009 votes Samantha is leading with a whopping 46.8% of the vote with Molly second at 17.4% ----- all the following results are from DyeStat High School Track http://www.dyestat.rivals.com/ ------------------------------------------- Pennsylvania State Meet (State College, PA) ------------------------------------------- Somebody must have sensed that the karma in the place needed a bit of tweakingÉ because when the boys and girls warming up on separate poll vault runways were asked to switch places with each other, some incredibly good things started to happen at the Pennsylvania State Indoor Championships. Emily Tharpe, McDowell, tied for the US#6 in pole vault with 12'0". Kevin Dare, State College, pole vaults, 15'05". He is current US#6 with a 15'7" vault. ----------------------------------------------- Virginia AAA Northern Region Meet (Fairfax, VA) ----------------------------------------------- 1. Charlotte LaRoche (CEN) 10-09 [new meet record; old record 10-0 by Carrie Bennett (HAY) 1999] 2. Carrie Bennett (HAY) 10-06 3. Alicia LaRoche (CEN) 10-00 4. Stephanie Hollar (LB) 9-06 5. Meredith Rothrock (LANG) 9-06 6. Jeanette Prakken (FFX) 9-06 1. David Sullivan (CEN) 13-09 2. Robert Freeman (LEE) 13-06 3. Chris Jaikaran (CEN) 12-06 4. Matt Hovanec (LANG) 11-06 5. Steve Halla (WS) 11-06 6. Mark Kupets (LANG) 11-06 ----------------- Mason Dixon Games ----------------- Class AAA 1 David McKenzie 12 Saint Xavier 14'06.00" 2 Austin Swope 12 Daviess County 12'06.00" 3 Caleb Yaste 10 Marion County 12'06.00" 4 Chris Hartman 11 Marshall County 11'06.00" 5 Chad Stechschultz 11 Woodford County 11'00.00" 6 Kevin Brangers 12 Central Hardin 11'00.00" 7 Adam Jarboe 10 Apollo 10'06.00" 8 Chuck Jones 11 Barren County 10'00.00" 9 Ben Kaytouz 11 Trinity 9'00.00" - Matt Blackwell 10 Scott County NH - Dustin Kerr 12 Grayson County NH Class AA 1 Eric Cockley 12 Western Hills 13'06.00" 2 Bo Ivey 12 Owensboro Catholic 12'00.00" 3 Jeff Barnett 12 Russell 11'06.00" 4 Brandon Kruchinski 12 Mercer County 11'00.00" 5 Matt Ewald 12 Highlands 10'06.00" 6 Brian Edwards 10 Fleming County 10'00.00" 7 Ben Mieves 10 Fort Campbell 9'00.00" 8 Robbie Moore 9 Henry County 8'00.00" - Dustin Kehoe 10 Mason County NH - Joe Holbrook 12 Rowan County NH ================================== More on the European Championships ================================== ---------------------------------------------------------- The European Championships According to Warren Hill Part 2 ---------------------------------------------------------- You heard about the women's qualifying last issue and if Shawn Devereaux had read his mail in time and forwarded this out like he was s'posed to you this would have come on time. S'alright chief :-) "Dear all, I thought, as I am in Ghent, that you might like some background on the happenings so far this weekend. Let's start with the qualifying competitions on Friday, which is where the fun began! The mens qualifier was due to start at 10.00 a.m. By 10.00 the men were out on the track but were obviously not going to be vaulting. Apparently the Spanish entrant, Garcia, had misplaced his poles between the airport and the venue, and demanded the event be delayed by one hour so he could find his poles. After having a 7.00 am wake up in order to get to the stadium in time the other athletes were none too impressed by this. At 11.00, with no poles in sight, the competition began. The opening height was a fairly pedestrian 5.20m. The majority started at this height, with everyone except for two going clear at the opening attempts. The exceptions were Paul Williamson, GBR, Rombaut of Belgium and Spacek of CZE. Rombaut and Williamson safely negotiated on the second attempt, while Spacek failed again, and then a third time. In what was to set a trend for the weekend at the end of his vaulting Spacek remonstrated with the referee that the stands were in the wrong place and demanded an extra vault. No way, said the referee, without actually checking the stands. What became clear over the next few hours of vaulting was two things. One, most Mondo tracks have slightly shallow boxes. Two, the stands were being measured from the back of the edge of the stand, as opposed to the middle or front. This meant almost every vaulter hitting the bar on the way up. So why, do you ask yourself, did all these experienced vaulters not learn and move the stands back further than normal? Who knows... 5.40 was the next height, and the original group were joined by a couple of the "favourites", Averbukh from Israel, Barthel from Norway and Strogalyov from Russia, along with the two Italian entries. It was at this point we noticed that Vitaly Petrov, ex-coach to Bubka, was coaching the Italians and Averbukh. As the day wore on he also appeared to be coaching several other nations. I talked to him about his and it turns out he now coaches a group of people who are not just Italians but also Polish, Australian, Ukrainian and Israeli. Most are ex-athletes from the USSR as was who are now competing under another banner. Anyway, back to the action. The first attempt saw a huge clearance by Averbuch, a real rattler from Williamson, and a couple of notable failures, Barthel, Mariani and Strogalyov. Almost all the vaulters who took the bar off did so on the way up. The second attempts saw Stogalyov clear, along with Gibilsco, the 2nd Italian. Third attempts came and went and suddenly there were a lot less vaulters. The losers, in vaulting order , were Looje (NED), Rombaut (BEL), Barthel (NOR), Rovan (SLO), Mariani (ITA), and Lacheb, K, from France. 5.50m saw the entry of the "godlike" Tim Lobinger, certainly from the organisers and commentators point of view. Even before his vault, he jumped 8th in the order, the commentator was announcing his presence, which undoubtedly did wonders for the rest of the athletes. Duval from Belgium jumped a PB and cleared 50, Spiegelburg also cleared first time, along with Blom from Holland (a new PB), and the mighty Lobinger, who cleared the bar by what looked like 2 feet at least. Otto was the last man clear at first attempt, making it clear that whoever got 50 would be in the final. Eriksson of Sweden and Strogalyov duly obliged, leaving Averbuch, Williamson, Jansson and Gibilisco to have a 3rd go. All failed, meaning the infamous count backrule would come into play. The results were checked, rechecked and then checked again, while the athletes waited to see if they would need another vault. After a 15 minute delay it was announced they had the 8 qualifiers for the final, Williamson had missed out because of one failure at 5.20, and his place went to Averbuch, eighth qualifier." Hopefully Warren will regale us with his tales from the men's and women's final hint hint... -------------------------------------------------- The European Championships According to Roger Ruth -------------------------------------------------- A few minutes ago, I posted comments on some proposals for change in competition rules for the vertical jumps. (VaultnGus sez - See below) I included the men's results in the European Indoor Championships. Besides being a useful, current example for considering effects of the proposed rule changes, I find the Euro results interesting for what *didn't* happen there. Lobinger, currently Europe's #1-ranked vaulter at 5.95, no-heighted at his relatively modest opener of 5.60. European # 2-ranked Stolle (GER) and #3-ranked Galfione (FRA) did not compete. I understand that Galfione was injured last week in a pentathlon event. Ridiculous risk. #4-ranked "European" Alex Auebukh of Israel won the competition. #5-ranked Tarasov (RUS), #6 Smiryagin (RUS), and #7 Mesnil (FRA) did not compete. #8-ranked Mariani of Italy, with a seasonal best of 5.70, no-heighted at 5.50 in the qualifying round. #9 Gataullin of Russia did not compete. #10 Martin Eriksson (SWE) vaulted 5 cm. better than his previous seasonal best of 5.65 for the silver medal. Rens Blom (NED), Thibault Duval (BEL) and Bjšrn Otto (GER) matched their seasonal bests of 5.60. Except for Auerbukh and these four, I believe that every other vaulter in the event fell short of their SB. Was there something about the facilities at Ghent that discouraged superior vaulting, and why were so many high-ranking vaulters no-shows? Cheers? Roger ----- BTW Shawn Deveraux pointed out : "A RealPlayer video of Alexandre Averbukh's winning 5.75 (18-10.5) vault at the Indoor Euro Champs is available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sport/newsid_657000/657008.stm" ================================ Postings from the Peanut Gallery ================================ posted by Garrett Nelson : "Hey Gus, I had an article a while ago where Bubka had been interviewed. He said he has jumped 6.37m in practice in the article. Just thought you all would like to know that since there is always debate about what he could have done if he put one way up there. Garrett Nelson PS As for getting paid for for records... UCS also gave him a check for a new WR." ----- from TCD "I have watched for almost 2 years a teammate jump on a pole that is 20 pounds under her weight. It bothers me because I see other girls working hard to do what is right while she takes a place she does not deserve. She did this at regionals and districts and even state. I feel bad about it but I don't want to rat on someone either. Any thoughts. Her mother at the last meet tried to get our top vaulter taken out, by saying she said a bad word when landing. Lucky someone had a tape of the meet and proved her wrong. Her mother goes as far as to tell the competitors any faults vaulters better than her daughter has. I feel this is wrong we are a team and this is not a game of who gets who. Even if you don't have any answers thanks for listening it made me feel a little better. Thanks " VaultnGus sez : I totally agree on the team aspect - we are, as Jan Johnson is want to say, a brotherhood of vaulters. Playing these games of cat and mouse is not conducive to the sport. As for the weight rule I've always been kinda torn. While I agree that intermediate/advanced vaulters should be on poles above their weight I think the rule could be losoened a little for beginners. I've seen a lot of vaulters come up short trying to get on too stiff a pole for their ability. I personally started out on poles beneath my weight (only 5-10 pounds though - not 20) and as my ability increased and I got better coaching I was able to move onto poles above my wieght. Again it all comes down to coaching and common sense. If a vaulter is not bending or barely bending a pole he/she should be allowed to jump on it. If a coach or official judges that the vaulter is overbending a pole they should have the right to make the vaulter move up poles. This opens up a whole new can of worms though 'cuz now the official has to judge yet another subjective aspect and that just makes things even more ugly On second thought, scrap what I said above. Lets just keep the weight rule in effect and keep it simple. The big problem now is that I have seen many instances of vaulters and coaches "doctoring" poles to make them appear to have a heavier weight rating. Something has gotta be done about this... ================================= More Regarding Stacy Dragila's WR ================================= posted by PVWAtG Correspondent-ad-infinitum Schmeelkshake : "Hey Gus, I gotta at least partially agree with Kurt Bray. Although considering what everyone's said about Stacy's attempts at 16', I would think that "the Fear" is already in many of her competitors. That would be unless some have already also taken jumps at 16' as well, even if only in practice. It sounds like we're shaping up to have an amazing outdoor preview to Sydney! It'll be interesting to see what happens along this really not-so-short road to Sydney ... I mean, the Olympics are a little later than usual this year. I just can't wait! Shake's prediction: we WILL see more WR's along the way before Sydney, and Stacy may very well have at least one of them. Will vault for a vaulter's version of the Trackgirls calendar for 2001 Shake" ============================================ A Discussion on the Overhauling of T&F Rules ============================================ There are also many, many other postings on this subject (too numerous to post here) on the VaultWorld Bulletin Board http://www.vaultworld.com/wwwvault/polevault1.html Please post to the board and express your opinion. first off a reprint of the original news item that sparked the debate : ----- GHENT, Belgium (AP) -- The new president of track's ruling body wants to enliven his sport and change the format of track and field events. One change he backs is the expulsion of sprinters after one false start. ``If we are not able to offer you great athletes, exciting competitions and events that have popular appeal, other sports will quickly steal our place,'' Lamine Diack, president of the International Amateur Athletic Federation, said on the opening day of the European Indoor Championships. To stay competitive in TV, Diack wants more suspense. He said the IAAF's new competition commission already has proposed several rule changes. ``There is even thought of changing the rules in the sprint so as to prohibit the false starts completely,'' he said. Currently, runners are thrown out after a second false start. Other proposals include limiting the attempts in the high jump and pole vault to six, adding more punch in a shorter span. Now, these competitions can last hours. In the long and triple jump, attempts would be cut to four from six. Diack, of Senegal, was appointed interim president after the death last November of Italy's Primo Nebiolo, who ran the IAAF for 18 years. ---------------------------------------------- The Rules Changes According to Shawn Devereaux ---------------------------------------------- Is anybody else bothered by the proposal to limit the vertical jumps to six attempts total for a competition? Trying to apply the same rules to both the vertical & horizontal jumps is pretty idiotic. Any rule change is a bad idea. The length of competition has far more to do with starting heights, bar progression, and number of competitors. Limiting the number of jumps would cause loads of spectator confusion and thus disinterest. Imagine how anti-climatic it would be to see Tarasov jump 20' at the Olympics, then Hartwig take 1 attempt & miss and then have to stop because he had used his 6 jumps. With a six jump limit, it would make more sense to pass to your PR or above and jump at it 6 times, than waste the attempts on the lower heights. The reason limiting the number of vaults is a bad idea is that with the LJ and TJ, any of your 6 attempts has the possibility of being your best attempt, the winning mark, and a record jump. In the PV & HJ, Only your last 3 of an undetermined number of jumps have that possibility. s.devereaux ----------------------------------------- The Rules Changes According to Roger Ruth ----------------------------------------- VaultnGus sez : "You think I work my fingers to the bone on this newsletter - I PALE in comparison to all the research Roger does..." Yesterday, Shawn Devereaux expressed concern about an IAAF proposal to limit tries in the vertical jumps to six total, in the interest of more attractive TV programming. Another member of the list countered with a suggestion to limit failed tries to three in total, instead of three successive misses. Today, a third member of the list registered his view that the three total misses rule might be a good change for TV coverage, but a poor one for jumpers, resulting in more vaulters no-heighting. Finally, a fourth member of the list weighed in with, "When, in the name of all that is holy, are the 'leaders' of our sport going to give up chasing TV." Let me try to deal with today's posts first. Neither the six-try or three-miss change would affect present standards of U.S. TV coverage in any way. NBC shows one jump--the winning effort --if the winner is an American. Otherwise, they show any jump that breaks a world record, regardless of the nationality of the jumper, and may show the final miss on a record attempt, especially if by a U.S. athlete. Count on seeing two jumps, max. Lennie Riefenstahl, where are you, now that we need you? One member wrote, "Trying to apply the same rules to both the vertical & horizontal jumps is pretty idiotic." He didn't specify why. A reason the suggestion is "idiotic," of course, is that each of the six attempts in the horizontal events may result in the best mark for the competitor. In the vertical jumps, only one of the six attempts could result in the best mark for the competitor. Another member's strategy for new rules in the horizontal jumps is a little too complicated for me to follow, except that apparently it might result in the competitor's best mark *not* be considered in determining placings. I don't think that's going to fly. As for the three-total-miss rule, I think it would result in higher entry heights, fewer clearances, and more no-heights. I believe that, from the standpoint of the spectator, the pole vault (like diving, or figure skating, or some gymnastics) is an intrinsically esthetic experience--when an effort is successful. But like diving, or figure skating, or gymnastics, when an effort is unsuccessful, the beauty disappears. For this reason, I believe that a change in rules that results in fewer successful attempts would be detrimental to spectator enjoyment of the event. End of sermon, and on with the text: Today, results of the men's pole vault of the European Indoor Championships were posted on the Championships website How would the IAAF proposal or the three-total-misses alternative have affected the outcome? Answer: Not at all. Let's look at the data: (I know--that can really interfere with reasoned discourse.) European Indoor Championships Ghent (BEL) -- 26 Feb Pole Vault MEN--Final Pos.Name CTRY Best 1 Alex AVERBUKH ISR 5.75 550, 565, 575, 585xxx 2 Martin ERIKSSON SWE 5.70 550, 560, 565, 570, 575x, 580xx 3 Rens BLOM NED 5.60 540, 550xxo, 560, 565x, 570xx 4 Thibaut DUVAL BEL 5.60 540, 560xo, 565xxx 4 R. SPIEGELBURG GER 5.60 540, 560xo, 565xxx 6 Bjšrn OTTO GER 5.50 540, 550, 560xxx 7 V. STROGALYOV RUS 5.40 540, 560xx, 565x - Tim LOBINGER GER NH 5.60xxx As can be seen, Auerbukh, Otto, Strogalyov, and Lobinger had neither more than six attempts nor more than three misses. Eriksson had only three misses, but seven tries. The limitation on total trials would have meant that he would have had only one miss at 5.80, instead of two misses at that height. Blom had five misses and eight tries. The net effect would have been that he would have had no tries at 5.70, instead of two misses; which of course didn't affect his result. Duval had four misses, but only six tries. The limitation on misses would have given him only two misses at 5.65, instead of three. Spiegelburg had exactly the same competition history as Duval, with the same result. The proposed limitation of total trials and the modification of limiting total failed tries would have had precisely zero effect on placements or individual best heights in the event final. I won't repeat the exercise with data from the qualifying round, except to summarize: Seventeen of the 20 competitors in the qualifications would have been unaffected by either the six-attempt or three-total-miss rule. Williamson (GBR) had six tries, but four misses. The effect would have been that he would have had only two misses, instead of three, at 5.50, the height he failed. Jansson (SWE) had seven tries and five misses. The effect would have been that he would have been permitted only one miss, instead of three, at 5.50. Rombaut (NED) had only five tries, but four misses. The effect would have been that he would have been permitted only two misses, instead of three, at 5.40. The total effect on the qualifying round of the total trials and total misses rules proposals would have been no changes in placements or individual heights. Should we change the rules? I doubt that either change would have much effect on elite male vaulters. It would probably cause more no-heights and discouragement for developing vaulters. It probably would have greatest effect--and a negative one--on female vaulters at every level of development, since their experience is less. (Do I remember that 17-year-old Yelena Isinbayeva used 15 attempts in setting her new world junior record?) Something that crossed my desk recently said, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it; if you can't fix it, maybe it ain't broke; or the government (in this instance, IAAF) version, if it ain't broke, fix it until it is." Cheers, Roger Yesterday, I posted an analysis of how two proposed rules changes for the vertical jumps would have affected men's pole vault results in the European Indoor Championships. You'll remember that the IAAF proposal was for limiting total tries to six. A counter-suggestion was to limit missed attempts to three in total, instead of three consecutively. Here are the ways those changes would have affected the outcome of the women's vault competition. As I postulated, effects are much greater for the women, than for the men. European Indoor Championships - Ghent (BEL) Pole Vault WOMEN 27/02/00 - 14:00 Final Official Results Pos. Name CTRY Best 390 405 420 430 435 440 450 1 Pavla HAMACKOVA CZE 4.40 - o xo xxo o xxo xxx 2= Christine ADAMS GER 4.35 - o o xo xo xxx 2= Y. BELYAKOVA RUS 4.35 - o o xo xo xxx 4 V. FLOSSADOTTIR ISL 4.30 - o xxo xo xxx 5 Janine WHITLOCK GBR 4.30 - o o xxo xxx 6 Sabine SCHULTE GER 4.20 o xo xxo xxx 7 Y. ISINBAYEVA RUS 4.05 o o xxx Daniela BARTOVA CZE - xxx Results applying the six total jumps rule: Pos. Name CTRY Best 390 405 420 430 435 440 450 1= Christine Adams GER 4.35 - o o xo xo 1= Y. BELYAKOVA RUS 4.35 - o o xo xo 3 V. FLOSSADOTTIR ISL 4.30 - o xxo xo 4 Janine WHITLOCK GBR 4.30 - o o xxo x 5 Pavla HAMACKOVA CZE 4.30 - o xo xxo 6 Sabine SCHULTE GER 4.20 o xo xxo 7 Y. ISINBAYEVA RUS 4.05 o o xxx Daniela BARTOVA CZE - xxx Only one change in placings, but that's a big one: Hamackova drops from first to fifth, although under present rules, she was the only vaulter to clear 4.40m. Results applying the three total failures rule: Pos. Name CTRY Best 390 405 420 430 435 440 450 1= Christine Adams GER 4.35 - o o xo xo x 1= Y. BELYAKOVA RUS 4.35 - o o xo xo x 3 Janine WHITLOCK GBR 4.30 - o o xxo x 4 Pavla HAMACKOVA CZE 4.20 - o xo xx 5 V. FLOSSADOTTIR ISL 4.20 - o xxo x 6 Y. ISINBAYEVA RUS 4.05 o o xxx 7 Sabine SCHULTE GER 4.05 o xo xx Daniela BARTOVA CZE - xxx Whitlock gets her best placing; Flossad—ttir and Schulte, their worst. Hamackova loses another 10cm and three places. Clearly, if you're going to change the rules governing the vertical jumps, more than just the over-all time will be altered, and drastically. Cheers, Roger One more example of the potential effects of the two rules change suggestions; this time from the qualifying round of the women's vault at the European Championships. You'll remember that one proposal was to limit the total number of tries to six; the other, to limit the number of missed jumps to three in total, rather than three consecutively. European Indoor Championships - Ghent (BEL) WOMEN PV 25/02/00 - 15:30 Qualifying Official Results Qualified by Position (Q): 8 Pos. Name CTR Best 380 400 420 430 1 V. FLOSSADOTTIR ISL 4.30 q - o o o 1 Pavla HAMACKOVA CZK 4.30 q - o o o 3 Daniela BARTOVA CZK 4.30 q - o o xo 3 Christine ADAMS GER 4.30 q - o o xo 5 Y. ISINBAYEVA RUS 4.30 q xo o xxo xo 6 Janine WHITLOCK GBR 4.30 q - o o xxo 6 Y. BELYAKOVA RUS 4.30 q - o o xxo 8 Sabine SCHULTE GER 4.20 q o o o xxx 9 Monika PYREK POL 4.20 xxo o o xxx 10 M. BAGGER* DEN 4.20 o xo xo xxx 11 Monique DE WILT NED 4.00 o o xxx 11 M.C. BRESCIANI ITA 4.00 o o xxx 11 S. FEOFANOVA RUS 4.00 - o xxx 11 Amandine HOMO FRA 4.00 o o xxx 15 Petra PECHSTEIN SUI 4.00 xxo o xxx 16 K. MOLNAR HUN 4.00 o xo xxx 16 Y. BUSCHBAUM GER 4.00 - xo xxx 18 Francesca DOLCINI ITA 4.00 xo xo xxx 19 Emilie BECOT FRA 4.00 xo xxo xxx 20 Tania KOLEVA BUL 3.80 xo xxx 21 Caroline AMMEL FRA 3.80 xxo xxx 21 Maria RENDIN SWE 3.80 xxo xxx Doris AUER AUT - xxx Zsuzsa SZABO HUN - - xxx E. TAVARES POR xxx * - Until recently, Marie Rasmussen. New Danish national indoor record. RR The first thing that will be noted is that 15 of the 25 competitors do not come under the influence of either the total tries or total miss rules. Of the other seven, Molnar has only six tries, but four are misses. Her three misses at 4.20 would be reduced to two, but her best height and placement would be unaffected. Koleva, Ammel and Rendin are within the total-tries limit, butall have more than three misses. Each would lose jumps at the height where she was eliminated, but none would lose best height or placement. Pyrek, Bagger-Rasmussen, Pechstein, and Dolcini all would lose jumps under either rule change, but only to the extent of reducing the number of failed attempts at their final height. Neither the height cleared nor placement would be affected. Becot would be unaffected by the total tries rule, but the total miss rule would prevent her third-trial clearance at 4.00, dropping her into a tie with Koleva. Finally, Yelena Isenbayeva. I mentioned in yesterday's post that this 17-year-old Russian took 15 jumps in setting her world junior record. She would be the big loser here. With eight jumps and four failures, she would be affected by either rule change. Limiting her to six jumps would cost her the final attempt and clearance at 4.30, reducing her best height to 4.20. Limiting her to three total missed jumps would cost her the final attempt and clearance at 4.20, reducing her best height to 4.00. Either would drop her below Monica Pyrek for the final qualifying spot. There were 132 jumps in this competition. Applying the six jumps rule would reduce this number by 10. Applying the three miss rule would reduce it by a further 9. I can't believe that a 7% or 8% reduction in the number of jumps would be worth the changes in the nature of the competition. Cheers, Roger ------------------------------------------------- The Rules Changes According to the Peanut Gallery ------------------------------------------------- posted by Hugh Miller : "Roger, Your analysis never fails to amaze me. You seldom express an opinion without substantiating it with facts, and with logical discussion. We are fortunate to have guys like you who are able and willing to share your insights with others. Thanks. Hugh Miller" ----- posted by Andy Miller : "Hello all, Well, I agree with Roger on most if not all of what was written. What I'd like to add, is that the three or six attempt rule definitely does not favour the vaulter. I think that everyone knows why. Maybe not so much elite vaulters, but the up-and-comers for sure. Consider this: a vaulterstarts one foot below their PB or 30cm. Height progressions are 15cm. They take two attempts to get over the first height, two at the second, two at their PB. Now they've used their six attempts, and don't even get to try at a new PB? As a coach and an athlete, I would be furious if such a rule were imposed. Another thing: would the competition be run as usual, except for the limitation on number of jumps? For instance, could I try at 5.60m right now, realize it's not within my reach, then come down to 5.30m? How about picking my heights? The guy before me jumps 5.20m... okay... I'll take 5.21m for the win, please. Here's a far-fetched solution, since the competition is being made out to be like the horizontal jumps: lasers! The crossbar no longer exists, but a wall of lasers is being shone between the standards. You could still choose a depth, and then highest undisturbed laser would be your height. Anyone have the cash for those kind of standards? In short... I don't approve of this rule change. As for the television coverage, that's what editing is for. Leave the event as is. -Andy." ----- posted by Gerard Dumas : "Please, do not try to reinvent the wheel. I am firmly opposed to this new rule which would give the athlete a certain number of jumps. It has been done before. As an historian of the event I recall that a similar system was used in the mid seventies for the newly formed "professional league". They only had 5 to 7 vaulters at the most and I believe that 7 jumps were allowed ( The exact number is not relevant). I can assure you that the sacro-saint TV coverage was not any better then than it is now. Changing things to benefit the omnipotent and super rich TV networks lacks consideration for athletes and coaches. Leave things the way they are. After all, do you want different records kept for six tries? Andy Miller was right when he gave his opinion. He took it lightly and it is the only way this thing should be discussed: 5.20m/5.21m! I only wish I had come up with it. Since it's a free country I would like to say something about the Helmets. Get a life! I know that in the States any money-making venture is considered appropriate, but helmets! Are we serious in wasting time with this discussion? Pole vaulting is somewhat dangerous and anybody who jumps is surely taking a chance. But that's life, so we have to learn how to cope with it. May I also suggest that the judges of throw events wear a coat of armour and that the female vaulter have a chest protector against any encounter with the cross bar. Leave the things the way they were even before Cornelius Warmerdam's days. The TV is really not interested in showing us track meets. Gerard" ----- posted by P. N. Heidenstrom : "Ed Koch asked : << Why not just limit vertical jumpers to three overall misses instead of three consecutive misses? >> Dwight (Stones) could answer that question. If that had been the rule in 1973 when he set his first world record (2.30m) he would have been eliminated at 2.24m. There would have been no w.r. Nor would there have been wrs for Brumel in 1962 and 1963, then Yashchenko, Moegenburg, Zhu, Povarnitsyn, and Sotomayor in 1988. John Uelses would not have been the first man to vault 16ft (1962). Before him Hoff, Miller, and Warmerdam would have lost wrs; after him Hansen, Seagren (5.32 - he would have been eliminated at 4.72m, or 2ft lower), Pennel, Wilson, Seagren again, Isaakson twice, Roberts, Vigneron twice, and even the great Bubka - five times. From the women's HJ, add Hopkins, McDaniel, Blagoyeva, Ackermann, Simeoni, Meyfarth, and Kostadinova. Would the fans have gone home more blissful after having NOT seen the world records at those meets? The new president of the IAAF seems to be like one of those efficiency experts who want to reduce a good song to just one verse, or the Readers Digest publishers who shrink a Galsworthy or Proust trilogy down to a two-page precis, or a guy I knew whose motto was, "why take 30 minutes to do a 30-second job? Would a real aficionado go along to a baseball game of one inning, or a Rugby game where the rule is three-tries-and-it's-all-over, or a cricket match where no-one is allowed to score 300 runs because it takes too long, or an evening of fine wines where everyone pours it down so fast it doesn't have time to touch the sides, or a Mahler symphony that has to be fitted into the same length of time as the Minute Waltz? If the IAAF panders to the efficiency experts to please the rubber-neckers - at the expense of the true fans - won't they eventually lose both . . . ? P N H" ----- posted by Dave Carey "It would seem strange to eliminate a jumper when he (or she) has had no misses. All athletes have good days when they do much better than they expected. A jumper may start at a relatively low height and not realize what a good day he (or she) is having until he (or she) makes his (or her) sixth consecutive clearance on the first try. With the new rules he (or she) would then be done for the day. What is needed to speed up the vertical jumps is to pare down the large number of competitors making several consecutive heights on the second or third try. To begin with, I would suggest that if a given height takes three attempts, then the competitor be allowed only two attempts for the next height. Dave Carey" ===== Outro ===== Hopefully I'll have all the lists updated tonight - if not then definitely tomorrow. I should also be getting out a weekend review edition with updated Collegiate rankings and a USATF Indoor Champs preview issue this week before I leave for Atlanta... I've been listening to one of my favorite albums by Swervedriver over and over again while writing this newsletter, especially the haunting song "Last Train" "You look like you could use some sleep" said a stranger on a train I fixed him with an ice cold stare and said "I've been having those dreams again In one dream there's this girl I love and we dance with every waking breath In the other they throw me in a cell and charge me with her death" Unbelievable twin-guitar leads here. Great tune. Great band. VaultnGus "Will vault for food" vaultngus@vaultworld.com http://www.vaultworld.com/vaultngus/ Corrections, additions, suggestions - send it all to VaultnGus at vaultngus@vaultworld.com Caveat Emptor : the PVWAtG Newsletter depends heavily on your submissions and often I use e-mails without permission. If you send me something that is NOT intended for publication please note it by prefacing the subject header with "NOT FOR PRINT" as I have no common sense whatsoever.