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Can someone please explain the pole vault to me?

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Lethe

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Mon Aug-11-08 12:04 AM
Original message

Can someone please explain the pole vault to me?

when, in all of life's tribulations, did some guy run as fast as he can, stick a giant pole in a hole, and then propel himself over a makeshift bar?

I mean, if this ever happened, this guy deserves more than fucking medal. He probably did this to propel himself over a castle wall and sap the enemy's defenses inside.

What is the history of the useless pole vault?

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petronius

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Mon Aug-11-08 12:09 AM
Response to Original message

1. I think it was originally more about getting "across" than getting "over"

For example, if you need to cross a stream and all you have is a long carbon fiber pole and a large synthetic cushion to land on, it's just common sense to clear a smooth 100' running track, dig a small reinforced hole, and vault over...

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Solon

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Mon Aug-11-08 12:12 AM
Response to Original message

2. Wikipedia to the rescue!

Poles were used as a practical means of passing over natural obstacles in places such as the marshy provinces of Friesland in The Netherlands, along the North Sea, and the great level of the Fens of Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire, Lincolnshire and Norfolk. The artificial draining of these marshes created a network of open drains or canals intersecting each other. In order to cross these without getting wet, while avoiding tedious roundabout journeys over bridges, a stack of jumping poles was kept at every house and used for vaulting over the canals. Pole vaulting has been used by Venetian punters for moving to the shore from their boat. It has continued to be a folklore activity with annual competitions. Fierljeppen or broad-jumping with the pole, though the original form of the sport, has never found its way into global competition, the high jump being the only form recognized.

Modern competitions began around 1850 in Germany, when it was added to the gymnastic exercises of the Turner by Johann C. F. GutsMuths and Frederich L. Jahn. The modern pole vaulting technique was developed in the United States at the end of the nineteenth century. In Great Britain, it was first practiced at the Caledonian Games. Initially, vaulting poles were made from stiff materials such as bamboo or aluminium, pole vaulting success was also originally measured by distance rather than height as it is today. Later, the introduction of flexible vaulting poles made from composites such as fiberglass or carbon fiber allowed vaulters to achieve new heights. Physical attributes such as speed and agility are essential to pole vaulting effectively, but technical skill is an equally if not more important element. The object of pole vaulting is to clear a bar or stick supported upon two uprights without knocking it down.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pole_vault

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npk

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Mon Aug-11-08 12:15 AM
Response to Reply #2

4. The words "Giant Pole" and "Sticking"

Edited on Mon Aug-11-08 12:16 AM by Nasprin

Should not be used lightly around here.

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RoyGBiv

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Mon Aug-11-08 12:14 AM
Response to Original message

3. No one really knows ...

Edited on Mon Aug-11-08 12:16 AM by RoyGBiv

It goes back a long way, though, so there's probably something in just that. No video games or television, but they had long sticks and figured out something to do with them. OnEdit: I should say no one really knows exactly. As the Wikipedia article posted by Solon observes, it does seem to have had a purpose at some point.

I've long had the desire to develop a completely useless activity or object, bury a description of it or the object itself in a time capsule and let future generations ponder over it. I can't be the first person in history to have had this desire, and I suspect some ancient Sumerian may have done something like this and that we now look at it as the key to their civilization.

Never discount the influence of the absurd.

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Lethe

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Mon Aug-11-08 12:19 AM
Response to Reply #3

6. so why isn't the caber toss a olympic event?

you get trashed a pick up a giant tree, then throw it?

why isn't this in the olympics?

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RoyGBiv

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Mon Aug-11-08 12:25 AM
Response to Reply #6

11. Bad publicists ...

That's the part no one really seems to know. I sure don't.

Hell, I'm still trying to figure out curling in the winter Olympics.

And ... I'm trying to figure out how the hell I got obsessed with watching it. I like watching grass grow too apparently.

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pokerfan

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Mon Aug-11-08 12:17 AM
Response to Original message

5. deleted

Edited on Mon Aug-11-08 12:17 AM by pokerfan

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Lethe

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Mon Aug-11-08 12:19 AM
Response to Reply #5

7. you will be destroyed

stock dialog

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pokerfan

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Mon Aug-11-08 12:24 AM
Response to Reply #7

10. deleted

Edited on Mon Aug-11-08 12:24 AM by pokerfan

message removed for abject stupidity

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Lethe

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Mon Aug-11-08 12:26 AM
Response to Reply #10

13. this is DU you know

can't be any stupider than my posts :D

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pokerfan

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Mon Aug-11-08 12:36 AM
Response to Reply #13

14. but this is teh lounge

I am only occasionally witty enough to post here.

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Oeditpus Rex

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Mon Aug-11-08 12:21 AM
Response to Original message

8. It makes more sense than an event

in which competitors push a large wooden rabbit.

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Lethe

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Mon Aug-11-08 12:22 AM
Response to Reply #8

9. suppose we built this large, wooden badger

RUN AWAY, RUN AWAY!

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npk

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Mon Aug-11-08 12:26 AM
Response to Original message

12. I can only imagine explaining this to your parents

"Hey mom, dad, I have decided and uh I would like to learn how to pole vault."

Mom and Dad just look at each other, and say "This SOB is crazy."

:rofl:

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