Celebrities/ athletes who love pole vualting?

[polevaultpower]

RIP Patrick Swayze. Some memories of him as a vaulter: http://www.polevaultpower.com/forum/vie ... 40&t=18520

[TrackCEO]

Re: Celebrities/ athletes who love pole vualting?

One day in October 1999, I was in charge of producing the Gallery section of offbeat stories for The San Diego Union-Tribune Sports section. This was what we printed:

HEADLINE: Pole-bearers say Pavarotti is ready to hit the highest notes ever in 2004

BODY OF STORY:

What do pole vaulters do in the offseason? Now we know.

The following dispatch, edited for space, has been making the Internet rounds:

MODENA, Italy -- World-renowned opera star Luciano Pavarotti shocked the arts world this month as he stood before a packed room of reporters in the town of his birth to announce that he will be giving up the world of opera to concentrate on his lifelong dream of becoming a pole vaulter.

The man behind the voice that transcended hearts and minds for so many years has a new goal in life. The Italian tenor will attempt to become the first athlete to successfully make the transition from opera to track as he seeks to qualify for the Italian Olympic team and take part in the 2004 Summer Games in Athens, Greece.

"It is time for me to follow my dream," said a tearful Pavarotti as he explained his vaulting interests. "I've enjoyed my time in the opera, but frankly -- how many times can you sing `Nessun Dorma'?"

Though most were stunned by the news, his close friends have known for sometime.

"He talked to me about it frequently," said conductor Zubin Mehta. "He first mentioned it one night over dinner when we were having one of those deep, late-night conversations. I asked him what would make him really happy in life, and he said, `Another plate of pasta.'

"I then said, no, I mean in the bigger sense, and that's when he said, `I want to vault.' I knew immediately that he was serious."

Researchers at the Advanced Composite Materials Institute in Manfred, Germany, have been hard at work developing a pole that will support the ample Italian.

"There are a number of factors to be considered in addition to just making the right pole," said Reinhold Steitz, the institute's chief scientist.

"It's somewhat like planning a moon shot. For example, let's say Lucianno launches himself skyward, but somehow gets off course and starts heading for the stands.

"Could you evacuate the stadium in time? Where would people go? With an object of that size, you have to plan for trouble. Public safety is an issue."

In 2004, Pavarotti will be 68, but track analyst Dwight Stones says the biggest obstacle for Pavarotti may be psychological.

"It was thought to be humanly impossible to run the mile in under four minutes until Roger Bannister did it in 1954," says Stones. "With
pole-vaulting, the psychological barrier has always been the 400-pound vaulter. People have it in their heads that it just can't be done."

(The long version originally appeared on the T-and-F mailing list. Not sure if it's still archived there. I'd just LOVE to know its author.)

Ken Stone

[Half Miler]

Re: Celebrities/ athletes who love pole vualting?

Actor/celebrity/spokesperson Bruce Jenner
vaulted around 16-8 or so before he became famous...

[Half Miler]

Re: Celebrities/ athletes who love pole vualting?

Ukrainian Parliament member Sergey Bubka once vaulted
20-1 3/4 (6.14), which I believe was the 3rd or 4th best vault that year.

[BruceFlorman]

Re: Celebrities/ athletes who love pole vualting?

>Buzz Aldrin was a pole vaulter. Shoulda taken a pole to the moon with him.

Seems like a vault record on the moon would rate an asterisk.

On the other hand ... I guess any record set on the moon wouldn't be a "world" record anyway.

[polevaultpower]

Re: Celebrities/ athletes who love pole vualting?

>Buzz Aldrin was a pole vaulter. Shoulda taken a pole to the moon with him.

I hear they're a pain to get on the space shuttle!

[cullman]

Re: Celebrities/ athletes who love pole vualting?

Buzz Aldrin was a pole vaulter. Shoulda taken a pole to the moon with him.

[gh]

Re: Celebrities/ athletes who love pole vualting?

If it does I assume we will also find that Melon is no longer blind.

[dj]

Re: Celebrities/ athletes who love pole vualting?

Robert Culp of "I Spy" fame was a high school vaulter. I believe he is one and the same as the Bob Culp, who as a Berkeley (Cal.) HS senior in 1947 cleared 12-3 to tie for 2nd in the California state meet.

The state champ that year was Olympian-to-be George Mattos at 12-6, and Culp's vault put him among the top 30 high school vaulters for the year.

[Zat0pek]

Re: Celebrities/ athletes who love pole vualting?

>Shannon Hoon, singer
>for Blind Melon, currently dead from heroin, was a high school vaulter.

"Currently dead?" I assume that status isn't expected to change any time soon?

[Cooter Brown]

Re: Celebrities/ athletes who love pole vualting?

Patrick Swayze was a high school vaulter in Houston.

Shannon Hoon, singer for Blind Melon, currently dead from heroin, was a high school vaulter.

Kate Staples from American Gladiators was a British vaulter in the infant days of women's vaulting.

[gh]

Re: Celebrities/ athletes who love pole vualting?

>Footballer Deacon Jones was a world class Decathalete. Does that qualify?>>

which issue of The Onion was that in?

[Paul1]

Re: Celebrities/ athletes who love pole vualting?

Footballer Deacon Jones was a world class Decathalete. Does that qualify?

[polevaultpower]

Re: Celebrities/ athletes who love pole vualting?

>No, but this picture ran in The Onion a few years ago with the headline
>"Clinton Becomes First President to Clear 18 Feet in Pole Vault":
>http://bruintrack.com/timg/misc/b_clinton.jpg

I actually found a real picture of Clinton holding a pole vaulting pole... http://www.polevaultpower.com/forum/vie ... php?t=5854

[trackstar]

Re: Celebrities/ athletes who love pole vualting?

No, but this picture ran in The Onion a few years ago with the headline "Clinton Becomes First President to Clear 18 Feet in Pole Vault": http://bruintrack.com/timg/misc/b_clinton.jpg