IAAF mull rule change after "foul"

[rainbowgirl28]

http://www.smh.com.au/news/Sport/IAAF-m ... 87012.html

IAAF mull rule change after "foul"

August 29, 2007 - 9:04PM

Track and field's ruling body the IAAF was mulling a rule change after a Russian pole vaulter was adjudged to have fouled even though the bar did not fall at the world championships.

Tatyana Polnova was reduced to floods of tears after being eliminated at 4.65 metres, protesting furiously to judges after she was failed for knocking the bar even though it had stayed up.

"You have to ask if we should think about changing the rules," the IAAF's members services director Elio Locatelli said.

"Sometimes clever athletes deliberately push the bar back with their hands but she did not do this. This must be something like human error.

"Maybe we have got to use a different bar like in the high jump - but then it would be a problem with the wind."

Locatelli added: "It is a very difficult question and until we find a perfect solution, athletes will have to accept the rules as they are."

The IAAF said the judges during the women's pole vault competition on Tuesday had followed the rules to the letter of the law and that Polnova had not lodged a formal protest.

The Russian had brushed the bar on her way down and as it wobbled it became dislodged from one of pegs at either end of the uprights but stayed on the horizontal clip.

"If you follow the absolute strictest interpretation of the rules, the bar was not resting on both pegs," IAAF spokesman Nick Davies said.

"The bar had come off one of the pegs and Polnova and her coach had to accept that when they saw the videotape. There was no protest."

Russian's Olympic champion Yelena Isinbayeva easily retained her world title amid her countrywoman's histrionics.

[rainbowgirl28]

http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/inde ... Itemid=163

IN TEARS: Russian pole vaulter Tatyana Polnova was still crying for an hour after it happened.

In Tuesday's pole-vault final, Polnova thought she had cleared 4.65 metres. On her jump, the bar bounced on the pegs but didn't fall. She jumped out of the landing area to celebrate. However, it was ruled - though the bar did not fall - it was resting on only one of the pegs - the other end of the bar resting on a metal portion of the structure.

Polnova did not file a protest and was allowed to view the tape afterward.

"It wasn't resting on the pegs, it was resting on a peg, and on the upright," IAAF spokesman Nick Davies explained. "When you looked at the video evidence, and when the athletes were shown the video evidence - they had to accept that if you take an absolutely strict interpretation it was not on both pegs."

World record holder Yelena Isinbayeva won the pole vault at 4.80. Katerina Badurova was second and Svetlana Feofanova was third - both at 4.75.

[BruceFlorman]

The Russian take on the situation from AllSport.ru...
[quote]12:46 29.08.2007 – Light Athletics – World Championships of Light Athletics-2007
Tatiana Polnova’s attempt was a miss according to IAAF rule №183.2 "a"

Today, 29 August, at the world championships of light athletics in Osaka the scandal continued regarding yesterday's decision of the judges not to accept an attempt by Russian pole vaulter Tatiana Polnova at the height of 4.65 m because one end of the bar did not remain on the “pegâ€Â

[golfdane]

This could have been avoided, if it was impossible for the bar to come to rest on the top of the "spacer". It should have been rounded of instead of flat.

Though it isn't visible on the bar cam, is it clearly visible from the camera filming the jump from behind left, that the bar comes to rest on top of the spacer, and not on the peg...