PoleVaultPower.com

I am not sure if this the appropriate forum....but would be interested in views/interpretations of the new IAAF rule that forbids the use of the pole for 'practice' after a competition has begun.

see:

http://www.iaaf.org/mm/Document/06/28/2 ... nglish.pdf

Page 168, point (b), below was added for 2012 onwards.

2. Once a competition has begun, athletes are not permitted to use, for
practice purposes, as appropriate,
(a) the runway or take-off area;
(b) vaulting poles;
(c) implements;
(d) the circles or the ground within the sector with or without
implements

What does 'practice purposes' mean? Are athletes allowed to:
* pick up the pole?
* move the pole while standing in the one spot?
* run with the pole? (where does 'warm up' end and 'practice' begin?)
* 'run throughs' ending with a jump would appear to be out.

Have officials internationally been enforcing this rule? (it has been in our state of Australia).

I don't know what the enforcement has been like internationally, but I know in the US, we considered that rule, since we try to make our rule book match IAAF as much as possible, and Jeff Hartwig talked the rules committee out of adding it to the USATF rule book.

My guess is the intent of the rule is to make it clear that no practice vaults are allowed. You could certainly enforce it as no pole runs, no standing pole plants, etc. Stupid.

It is being enforced such that the pole is not allowed to be picked up before an attempt is made.

.....last weekend, 2 'no heights' from my daughter's training squad were by athletes whose first height was 45min or more after the comp began.....so at least that time since picking up the pole.

I am encouraged that USATF has not endorsed this rule....and will contact Athletics Australia! :-)

Each federation can decide what rules to follow in their domestic meets. While it is good to prepare athletes for international competition, it is also good to use a little common sense. Hopefully all elite athletes will get a heads up about this and come up with ways to work around it.

I can only assume that the people that made this rule truly hate the event of pole vault and pole vaulters and would like to see such an increase of injuries that the event can be banned.

I think they must have thought of the rule by attending a baseball game and watching pitchers warm-up between every inning, or even during an inning if they are substituted in. They must have said... look, those pitchers get to warm-up over and over again and baseball is a wildly successful and highly profitable sport. We've got to make sure that doesn't happen to Track & Field, pole vaulting in particular. If all that warm-up is required for them to pitch well and the game to be safer, it's probably the same as pole vault. So this is how we can truly throw a knife into the heart of the sport and kill it! Pole vault must be the only sport in the world where the best competitor gets the most disadvantages.

Jeff Hartwig saved the US from this malicious rule, where the hell was Bubka when they made the IAAF rule? Is he trying to protect his legacy?

rmba wrote:It is being enforced such that the pole is not allowed to be picked up before an attempt is made.

.....last weekend, 2 'no heights' from my daughter's training squad were by athletes whose first height was 45min or more after the comp began.....so at least that time since picking up the pole.

I am encouraged that USATF has not endorsed this rule....and will contact Athletics Australia! :-)

Enforcing that rule is tantamount to just saying, no more pole vault in track & field.

Could you imagine a baseball umpire collecting all the bats, balls, and gloves and no players being allowed to touch them until they were on the field or up at bat. No warm-up pitches after the game starts. They wouldn't play. And they have a players union that could do something about it.

I got a positive response from Athletics Australia's (AA) chief technical officer (though understandably non-committal at this stage).

My daughter's coach tells me there are now a number of emails between Australia's top PV coaches and AA technical officials.

It will be apparently be discussed at the IAAF technical meeting in Monaco coming up soon.

I feel like Pole Vault Power empowered me to get this ball rolling!

Hey Becca! Where's the "like" button? ha ha

rmba wrote:I got a positive response from Athletics Australia's (AA) chief technical officer (though understandably non-committal at this stage).

My daughter's coach tells me there are now a number of emails between Australia's top PV coaches and AA technical officials.

It will be apparently be discussed at the IAAF technical meeting in Monaco coming up soon.

I feel like Pole Vault Power empowered me to get this ball rolling!

Fantastic!

A lot of these things happen because pole vaulters often don't get involved in the political/administrative side of things. Being involved is good on so many levels!

RULE 180
General Conditions - Field Events
Warm-up at the Competition Area
1. At the competition area and before the beginning of the event, each
athlete may have practice trials. In the case of throwing events, the
practice trials will be in draw order and always under the supervision
of the Judges.
2. Once a competition has begun, athletes are not permitted to use, for
practice purposes as appropriate,
(a) the runway or take-off area;
(b) vaulting poles;
(c) implements;
(d) the circles or the ground within the sector with or without
implements.

I would be interested in seeing the LEGAL definition of the two words IAAF are using here:
Warm Up
Practice

There is for sure a difference?

Also:
Jeff Hartwig saved the US from this malicious rule, where the hell was Bubka when they made the IAAF rule? Is he trying to protect his legacy?

All these dumb @#$ rules started after he, Bubka, became involved in the rules so what do you think??????????

I think it would be helpful if the pole vault community internationally contacted their national technical officer to note their concern/ask for an interpretation.

This will let the IAAF technical officials know how problematic this is.

These rules are just getting out of hand.

I wonder If LZB's portable, foldable, Air-Ryan-sanctioned-carry-on sized, board runway will fall under these newly implemented sanctions. I'd hate to see Hurricane "IAAF" come rip-roaring through Havana.