I have talked in this space quite a bit about pole vaulting, and for good reason — learning that incredible sport not only helped me get back in shape, but also changed my life. Back in January, I went to the National Pole Vault Summit in Reno, Nev., the largest…
With half of the fall semester over, preseason training is underway. For high school seniors, this is the perfect time to start looking at schools and contacting coaches. This month, Penny Hanson has interviewed Wisconsin University, Madison coach Kyle Ellis to help high school students know what to look for…
LONG BEACH >> Bob Seagren’s office is decorated with remnants of athletic success. Trophies sit on windowsills, mannequins in old pole-vaulting uniforms hang on the wall. A two-time Olympic medalist, Seagren could have rested on his competitive laurels. Instead he is known locally as the man who saved the Long…
Bob Seagren received good and bad news the day he and his company, now known as Run Racing, were awarded the contract by the city to operate the Long Beach Marathon. The good news was that he got the contract. The bad news was that he got the contract. It…
Americans won the pole vault gold medal in every official Olympic Games from 1896 through 1968 (not including the semi-official 1906 event). Bob Seagren, the 1968 gold medalist, might’ve continued that run for one more Olympics but for a dispute that played out during the summer preceding the 1972 Games.…
The two best jumpers in 1972 were defending champion Bob Seagren and Sweden’s Kjell Isaksson. But also highly considered was 1968 bronze medalist Wolfgang Nordwig (GDR), who had won the 1966, 1969, and 1971 European Championships. Seagren and Isaksson were using the new Cata-Pole. But on 25 July the IAAF declared that pole to be…
Bob Seagren competed during an era when the capabilities of fibreglass poles were still being explored, which resulted in frequent revisions to the world pole vault record. Seagren was one of the key contributors to these revisions, and he set his first world record of 5.30m at Fresno on 14…
Due to the pressures of competition and variable weather conditions, it is not often that a vertical jumper achieves a personal best at an Olympic Games, which makes pole vaulter Claus Schiprowski’s feat of improving his best performance five times at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics quite exceptional, and possibly…
The precise origin of pole vaulting isn’t known. It was likely discovered independently in a variety of cultures as a way of surmounting physical obstacles, such as streams or irrigation ditches. Egyptian relief sculptures from approximately 2500 B.C. depict warriors using poles to surmount enemy walls. The first known pole…
July 17, 2012 – Looking back 40-plus years, Bob Seagren, one of the world’s top pole vault athletes at the time and who graced the cover of a 1967 issue of Sports Illustrated, recalled the life-changing experiences as a participant in two Olympic Games. A native of Pomona, Seagren graduated from…
