OK LHSvaulter, find the links to the mens quals and finals,

[souleman]

PLEASE! I'd also like to see what you can find for the decathlon too. As most on this site know, I'm a complete bonehead when it comes to finding stuff on the "inter-web". Thanks...............Mike

[Darth Vaulter]

http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/player ... de=sportat

Mike,

I can't find the finals, but here is the full video of the men's qualifying.

Darth

[Vault&Flip]

Some thoughts after watching the Men's Prelim video...

1. Those pits are hideous.
2. Brad Walker put at least a foot on the bar on his jumps and was the best vaulter in the field. Just a bad time to be unlucky.
3. Paul Burgess bends the pole a lot.
4. 90% of the field came up short on multiple attempts. Blame it on the runway, the box, whatever, but it was a pretty poor showing and several athletes failed to correct the mistake.
5. In line with the previous point, several guys would have benefited from dropping down a pole and raising their grips. I saw small amounts of bend and individuals coming up short, especially one Ukranian whose name escapes me.
6. Steve Hooker needs to cut his hair and request that Australia provide more attractive uniforms for London 2012. Although, I can't help but think those hideous uniforms distracted the competition.
7. The Chinese vaulter needs a pole about 6 inches shorter since he had about a foot of pole above his top hand. Also, stop drifting to the left standard, you're scaring me.
8. Good for Denys Yurchenko. You had to think he had some good Karma coming his way eventually.
9. That guy from Finland is backwards. Doesn't he know they don't make left-handed poles?
10. I was underwhelmed by the technique of most of the field. A lot of stretching at takeoff, a lot of bailing out, not making the proper corrections on second attempts, not to mention coming up short most of the time. I'm not sure what caused it, but except for Hooker's performance in the finals, I am pretty convinced the Bird's Nest is not a good place to jump.

On a serious note, good for Steve Hooker. 9 out of 10 times I would say he gets beat by either the Russian Lukyanenko or Brad Walker. He picked a good time for him to win one, and had a bit of help with Brad no heighting. 4 straight 3rd attempts to win gold is practically impossible plus an olympic record to cap it off. All he needed was a PR, and I think it would be perfectly acceptable to retire on a high note (i.e. John Elway and the super bowl). You can't make that stuff up.

[Darth Vaulter]

http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/player ... de=sportat

Here is the link to the finals

[souleman]

Thanks Darth ! Now I can sit back and enjoy another 4 to 6 hours of pole vaulting! Ya Know? I was thinking. If enough of us clicked on to these two links enough times, maybe NBC would realize that more than 2 minutes of prime time coverage for the pole vault might be warranted. Oh wait an minute, that would cut into the all important sport of beach volleyball and it's coverage wouldn't it? Later...............Mike

[Darth Vaulter]

Mike,

I came into this Olympics hoping for the same thing -- more prime time coverage -- but I now realize that it will never happen. It's not just pole vault. It's the same story for all of the field events. None of them involve continuous action, failure is a major element (especially in the vault), the average viewer cannot tell who's winning or why, there are no compelling (USA vs. _____) national rivalries, and it isn't nearly as dynamic or thrilling on video as it is when you are standing next to the runway (and understand the event).

That said, these complete event video replays are more than we could've hoped for. I know that some of the camera angles are worthless, but the bar camera is great and the footage of the vaulters' runs and plants will be very helpful in coaching my high school kids. I hope NBC keeps these links active for a long time or someone can figure out how to save them (PM me if you have already).

As someone would say . . . . "Later"

Darth