Athletes in Action

=--- ---- 133 THE POL V ULT (1) 1 'CE the war three candinavians haver voluti niscd mod rn parting noti ns . They arc Paavo urmi, the Finnish runner rne Borg the wedi h swimmer, and harles H ff, the orwegian pole-vaulter. or this reason I have cho en t-v elvc cqucnc pictur s of Hoff, an extra picture f him, and an c.'tra picture of .. . R. Web tcr, who u e the ame tylc, to illu tratc the art of P le Vaulting. The run-up is formed in the am way a is that for the Long Jump . If the take- ff is to be made fr m the 1 ft f ot a in IT ff s ea , then the pole-point is thr wn forward into the slide-way n the last tritk f the right fo t. s the left f t strike the ground and the pole-point r ·a hcs the stop-b ard at the end of the lide-way the ldt hand litlcs quickly up the pole, until it touche the right hand . t that in tant the hands arc dire tly in fr nt f th athlete's hin, as sh wn in Fig. 1 ppo ite . In the ne.· t in tant the arm arc thrust f rward and up t n ' arly full-arm c. ten i n, ith the hand touching as the right leg goes forward and the left 1 g is fully straightened in the take-off. As se n in Fig. 2 pposite, the Vault r, literally, runs off the ground and into the air. The head must not be dropped back, nor the arms cramped at the elbows, nor must there be any exaggerated pick-up of the knee of the free (right) leg. The extension of the arms has, of cour e, the effect of incr asing the angle bctw en the p 1 and the gr und. It should be n ticed that Iloff is making n attempt t ' spring" off the ground. lie will rely upon running momentum, plus swing, t carry him up.