Unread postby Bubba PV » Tue Nov 14, 2006 8:17 pm
Neat thread. Joe was certainly a great vaulter. A lot of old school guys jumped big push offs as grips weren't really pushed that much then. My first 18' jump was in 1978 gripping 14' 10" in a vault meet/exhibition. In 1999, my then athlete Borya Celentano, jumped 18' 1" on a 15' pole. Unlike Borya, I couldn't carry that efficiency over with higher grips. I’ve known of and seen many similar feats on shorter poles.
We did have a couple of decathletes I "adopted" when I first got to UC Irvine that capped 4.90 to 5m poles with PRs under 14'. Both got turned around but that was my first experience with massive inefficiency. Get this – they said they held high because they were afraid to get upside down. I would have been afraid to have that little spatial awareness and grip 5m. LOL!! Bubba