Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's pole vault

Women's pole vault at the Games of the XXX Olympiad
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Venue	Olympic Stadium
Date	4–6 August 2012
Competitors	39 from 25 nations
Winning height	4.75 m
Medalists
Jennifer Suhr  United States Yarisley Silva  Cuba Yelena Isinbayeva  Russia

Official Video Highlights

Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 m		men		women
200 m		men		women
400 m		men		women
800 m		men		women
1500 m		men		women
5000 m		men		women
10,000 m		men		women
100 m hurdles				women
110 m hurdles		men
400 m hurdles		men		women
3000 m steeplechase		men		women
4×100 m relay		men		women
4×400 m relay		men		women
Road events
Marathon		men		women
20 km walk		men		women
50 km walk		men
Field events
Long jump		men		women
Triple jump		men		women
High jump		men		women
Pole vault		men		women
Shot put		men		women
Discus throw		men		women
Javelin throw		men		women
Hammer throw		men		women
Combined events
Heptathlon				women
Decathlon		men

The women's pole vault competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom, was held at the Olympic Stadium on 4–6 August.

In the qualifying round, nobody needed to take an attempt at the automatic qualifier as the field was down to 12 at 4.55. Non-qualifiers included junior record holder Angelica Bengtsson, former world record holder Svetlana Feofanova and reigning world champion Fabiana Murer.

In the final, a strong headwind and light rain made it difficult for the competitors. By 4.55, the qualifying height, only five vaulters remained. That proved to be the final height for Martina Strutz. Even world record holder and two time defending champion Elena Isinbaeva had a miss at her opening at 4.55, though she made her next two heights 4.65 and 4.70 on the first attempt. 4.70 was the undoing of Silke Spiegelburg, leaving just Yarisley Silva and Jennifer Suhr for the medals. Suhr managed to remain clean to 4.70, while Silva had a miss at 4.45, a height Suhr didn't even attempt. It took two attempts for both to make 4.75, while Isinbayeva struggled, missing on two attempts. She strategically passed to take one last attempt at 4.80, but nobody had a good attempt at that height. Suhr jumped first in the order and had to sweat out the subsequent attempts by Isinbaeva and Silva, but won the gold on fewer misses, the difference was Silva's lone other miss at 4.45.

Competition format

The competition consisted of two rounds, qualification and final. In qualification, each athlete had three attempts at each height and was eliminated if they failed to clear any height. Athletes who successfully jumped the qualifying height moved on the final. If fewer than 12 reached that height, the best 12 moved on. Cleared heights reset for the final, which followed the same three-attempts-per-height format until all athletes reached a height they could not jump.

Schedule

All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1)

Date	Time	Round
Saturday, 4 August 2012	10:20	Qualifications
Monday, 6 August 2012	19:00	Finals

Records

Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.

World record	Yelena Isinbayeva (RUS)	5.06 m	Zurich, Switzerland	28 August 2009
Olympic record	Yelena Isinbayeva (RUS)	5.05 m	Beijing, China	18 August 2008
2012 World leading	Jennifer Suhr (USA)	4.83 m	Champaign, USA	7 July 2012

Results

Qualifying round

Qual. rule: qualification standard 4.60m (Q) or at least best 12 qualified (q).

Rank	Group	Name	Nationality	4.10	4.25	4.40	4.50	4.55	Result	Notes
1	B	Yelena Isinbayeva	Russia	–	–	–	o	o	4.55	q
1	A	Yarisley Silva	Cuba	–	–	–	o	o	4.55	q
1	A	Jennifer Suhr	United States	–	–	–	–	o	4.55	q
4	A	Lisa Ryzih	Germany	–	–	o	xo	o	4.55	q
5	B	Anna Rogowska	Poland	–	–	xo	xo	o	4.55	q
6	B	Silke Spiegelburg	Germany	–	–	–	o	xo	4.55	q
7	A	Holly Bleasdale	Great Britain	–	–	xo	o	xo	4.55	q
7	A	Vanessa Boslak	France	–	o	xo	o	xo	4.55	q
7	A	Martina Strutz	Germany	–	o	o	xo	xo	4.55	q
10	B	Becky Holliday	United States	–	xo	xxo	o	xo	4.55	q
11	A	Alana Boyd	Australia	–	o	xxo	xxo	xo	4.55	q
12	B	Jiřina Ptáčníková	Czech Republic	–	–	xo	xo	xxo	4.55	q
13	B	Stélla-Iró Ledáki	Greece	xxo	o	xo	o	xxx	4.50
14	B	Fabiana Murer	Brazil	–	–	–	xo	xxx	4.50
15	B	Lacy Janson	United States	–	o	o	xxx		4.40
15	A	Monika Pyrek	Poland	–	o	o	xxx		4.40
17	A	Anastasiya Shvedova	Belarus	–	xo	o	–	xxx	4.40
18	A	Jillian Schwartz	Israel	o	xxo	o	xxx		4.40
19	A	Tomomi Abiko	Japan	o	o	xxx			4.25
19	A	Angelica Bengtsson	Sweden	–	o	xxx			4.25
19	B	Mélanie Blouin	Canada	o	o	xxx			4.25
19	B	Nikoleta Kyriakopoulou	Greece	–	o	xxx			4.25
19	A	Tina Šutej	Slovenia	o	o	xxx			4.25
24	A	Ekateríni Stefanídi	Greece	xo	o	xxx			4.25
25	B	Nicole Büchler	Switzerland	xxo	o	xxx			4.25
26	B	Kate Dennison	Great Britain	–	xo	xxx			4.25
26	B	Nataliya Mazuryk	Ukraine	–	xo	xxx			4.25
26	A	Minna Nikkanen	Finland	o	xo	xxx			4.25
26	A	Anastasia Savchenko	Russia	–	xo	xxx			4.25
30	A	Li Ling	China	–	xxo	xxx			4.25
31	A	Choi Yun-Hee	South Korea	xo	xxx				4.10
31	A	Maria Leonor Tavares	Portugal	xo	xxx				4.10
33	B	Marion Lotout	France	xxo	xxx				4.10
33	A	Ganna Shelekh	Ukraine	xxo	–	xxx			4.10
N/A	B	Dailis Caballero	Cuba	xxx					NM
N/A	B	Svetlana Feofanova	Russia	–	–	xx–	x		NM
N/A	B	Caroline Bonde Holm	Denmark	xxx					NM
N/A	B	Liz Parnov	Australia	xxx					NM
N/A	B	Tori Pena	Ireland	xxx					NM

Final

Rank	Name	Nationality	4.30	4.45	4.55	4.65	4.70	4.75	4.80	Result	Notes
	Jennifer Suhr	United States	–	–	o	–	o	xo	xxx	4.75
	Yarisley Silva	Cuba	–	xo	o	o	o	xo	xxx	4.75	=NR
	Yelena Isinbayeva	Russia	–	–	x–	o	o	xx–	x	4.70
4	Silke Spiegelburg	Germany	–	–	o	o	x–	xx		4.65
5	Martina Strutz	Germany	–	xo	o	x–	xx			4.55
6	Jiřina Ptáčníková	Czech Republic	o	xxo	xx–	x				4.45
6	Lisa Ryzih	Germany	–	xxo	xxx					4.45
6	Holly Bleasdale	Great Britain	–	xxo	xxx					4.45
9	Becky Holliday	United States	xo	xxo	xxx					4.45
10	Vanessa Boslak	France	xo	xxx						4.30
11	Alana Boyd	Australia	xxo	xxx						4.30
N/A	Anna Rogowska	Poland	–	xxx						NM