Myth's of the Pole Vault: debunked

And the myth of excessive upper body strength.

whilst I find these videos, and particularly the first one, very interesting to watch, I suspect I am not alone in having no idea what "the myth of the knee drive," or the "myth of the free take-off does not exist" even are, and would therefore have no way of knowing whether these videos debunk those myths or not. some text to accompany them would be much appreciated.

and, from a purely theoretical perspective, if "the myth of the knee drive," is an actual thing, it would probably require more than one video to debunk it, because you could just be cherry-picking your example. "data" is not the plural of anecdote.

cheers.

The popular myth that "In the 1970s, before they invented wood, the 'pole' was made out of frozen lettuce." This is actually not true. Look on Wiki for more details.

Banner. wrote:

The popular myth that "In the 1970s, before they invented wood, the 'pole' was made out of frozen lettuce." This is actually not true. Look on Wiki for more details.

How on earth did anyone get fooled by that? It was clearly frozen carrots. The betacarotene congeals in such a way that it provides both strength and flexibility. It was only with the introduction of the knitted polyester poles in the late 70s that they became outdated.

Cottonshirt wrote:

whilst I find these videos, and particularly the first one, very interesting to watch, I suspect I am not alone in having no idea what "the myth of the knee drive," or the "myth of the free take-off does not exist" even are, and would therefore have no way of knowing whether these videos debunk those myths or not. some text to accompany them would be much appreciated.

and, from a purely theoretical perspective, if "the myth of the knee drive," is an actual thing, it would probably require more than one video to debunk it, because you could just be cherry-picking your example. "data" is not the plural of anecdote.

cheers.

The free take off myth I've heard. There are some very high level American coaches who try to claim that no top vaulter consistently has a free takeoff. I'm not sure how they maintain that position with all the video to the contrary.

If they want to claim that there are top vaulters who dont do a free takeoff, that is clearly true. But its also clearly true that some do.

Regardless, this video just shows one jump, so doesnt exactly bust any myth.

The "myth of the knee drive" I have never heard, though.

Your most likely referring to the lettuce blight that affected (effected?) large parts of the U.S at that time, but yes during which carrots were the preferred substitute, and arguably superior as you also noted. This also explains the slew of work pole vault records from 72-78, I have lobbied to get this annulled for years.

What is the longest pole currently in use? Who?

Cottonshirt wrote:

whilst I find these videos, and particularly the first one, very interesting to watch, I suspect I am not alone in having no idea what "the myth of the knee drive," or the "myth of the free take-off does not exist" even are, and would therefore have no way of knowing whether these videos debunk those myths or not. some text to accompany them would be much appreciated.

and, from a purely theoretical perspective, if "the myth of the knee drive," is an actual thing, it would probably require more than one video to debunk it, because you could just be cherry-picking your example. "data" is not the plural of anecdote.

cheers.

Second this, how about explaining the myths to start with.

Jakub Kusmieruk

5.15 meters perhaps wrote:

What is the longest pole currently in use? Who?

You build a 30 foot wall than we are going to use a 32 foot pole

Banner. wrote:

Your most likely referring to the lettuce blight that affected (effected?) large parts of the U.S at that time, but yes during which carrots were the preferred substitute, and arguably superior as you also noted. This also explains the slew of work pole vault records from 72-78, I have lobbied to get this annulled for years.

Is there any truth to the rumours about the East German men during the 70s?

Apparently due to the shortage of lettuces, there were food queues where many would stand for hours which took up valuable training time. One of the coaches eventually realised that they could combine training by vaulting the Berlin Wall into West Germany to get the valuable lettuce supplies.

However the first time they sent their vaulters to do this, the athletes defected never to return. Rumour has that these athletes then identified as female to avoid deportation back to the east and began competing for West Germany in the women's competitions.

At least that's what I heard ...

Myth is of the Pole Vault?