goldbu1
Mon, 24 May 2004 09:23:20 -0700
A word on Kirk Bryde's message; He "can clearly recall without any doubt" That Adrian Paulen (possibly an East german according to him) was very pro-German, while in fact the Dutch mines engineer Adrian Paulen all but was executed by Germans during World war II.
Shows that you can compete in Olympic Games and have not the vaguest idea who are the individuals functioning there. Just erase all these imaginary pro-German motives from the error that Paulen did ceratinly commit UG ================= Quoting Roger Ruth <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > Interesting, how much our memories of this occasion vary, after 32 years. > Thanks to Ed Grant for chipping in. I think I've switched sides on the > authority of recollection as a function of age at the time. It just may be > that those who have responded as teen-agers at the time have a few more > brain cells still alive than I do. > > Firstly, I think I may have been wrong about the pole that was banned. In a > parallel thread on the VaultCanada mailing list, Doug Ross commented: > > "I was 15 at the time and at that point I was still buying into the whole > "Olympic Ideal". So I had an interest in the whole scam. My memory is that > the pole in question was the Green Catapole 550+." > > Okay, only another teen-ager, so I could ignore that; but Gérard Dumas, who > was in attendance, describes the pole in question as "perches vertes," which > would be the Catapole 550+. I can hardly ignore Dumas' authority, since his > qualifications as vaulter include at least one competitive result every year > since 1948 and his qualifications as vault statistician are unmatched. I'll > copy his full post below, but for now I'll try to understand my mistake. > > At the 1976 USA Olympic Trials, I had conversations with the designers of > both Catapole and Pacer. Both were vehemently disgusted with Paulen. In > retrospect, that probably would have been Catapole objecting to the ad hoc > bench tests that were finally advanced as reason for banning the 550+, when > it was clear that the argument of unavailability of the pole for all > competitors wouldn't wash. For Pacer, the disgust would have centered on > Paulen's similarly ad hoc ruling, shortly before the Trials, that the usual > practice of western vaulters of placing a towel in the box to absorb some of > the impact of planting was illegal, "because it changed the dimensions of > the box." Pacer thought the absorption of impact by the towel permitted a > better transfer of energy in the plant and decreased the chances of pole > breakage. > > Okay, mea culpa. > > I'd like to copy one other VaultCanada post in addition to Gérard's. This > one is from a competitor in the Munich vault, Kirk Bryde of Canada, whose > memory may help to clarify the sequence of events, although apparently he > remembers the pole in question as the Pacer Carbon, as I did. Incidentally, > the thing that was different about the 550+ was that it was manufactured > with a slight pre-bend that permitted most vaulters a smoother take-off. > Apparently this was not an advantage for Nordwig. > > Bryde wrote, > > > "I have a very keen interest in this thread, since I > competed in the qualifying round, and in several meets > leading up to the 1972 Olympics. I did not qualify for > the Olympic Final, but I was certainly in on the buzz, > as I watched from the stands. > > "This story probably gets stretched by people every time > it's retold. I can offer a first-hand perspective, but > I caution you that I too may not recollect the entire > sequence of events. It was 32 years ago! > > "Certainly, there was an Olympic rule requiring that all > poles must be available to all athletes world-wide, or > else they would be declared an unfair advantage. I > cannot recall whether the carbon poles made by Pacer > were available 12 months before Munich. I used them, > and so did most other North American vaulters. > Wolfgang Nordwig preferred the older "pure fibreglass" > poles that he'd been using for many years. > > "In my experience, there was really no appreciable > difference between the carbon poles and the pure > fibreglass poles. The availability of carbon poles was > in fact "world-wide" in that any Olympic calibre > vaulter - including Nordwig - could get free poles from > Pacer for the asking. > > "My recollection was that Adrian Paulen was East German, > but I may be wrong about that. I'm trying to recall > the exact year that East and West Germany competed as > separate Olympic teams. I'm thinking that they > competed separately in Munich, but I might be off by a > few years. > > "However, what I clearly recall without a doubt is that > Paulen was very PRO-Germany. There was no indication > in the buzz amongst us vaulters that he was > ANTI-American. Isaakson actually didn't compete in > Munich. He was either injured or eliminated in > Sweden's trials. (The other big 'surprise' that year > was that both Dave Roberts and Steve Smith lost in the > US trials - they all cleared 5.50 at the US Trials. > Tough break! The pundits had predicted that it would > be Seagren and Roberts to represent the USA.) > > "At any rate, IMHO, what happened was that the German > officials took it upon themselves to alter the rules so > that Nordwig had an advantage over the Americans > (Seagren and Johnson). With Isaakson, Roberts, and > Smith not competing, there were no other 18-footers in > the competition, with the exception of Chris > Papinicolaou who hadn't repeated his WR 18-0.25 since > his one-and-only 1970 clearance. > > "Had Isaakson been competing, or had Papinicolaou still > been in his prime, I think the same thing would have > happened - devise a way to interrupt the non-German > competitors to give Germany a Gold. So on this basis, > I can't say that Paulen was ANTI-American. He was just > PRO-German - but you can see how the story can get > stretched. > > "I also recall that the carbon poles were banned > once-and-for-all several days before the competition, > but as Roger says - all vaulters had previous > forewarning that they were "illegal". I think most > vaulters just brought all the poles they had - with and > without carbon - as the forewarning was by no means > final. However, all the North American vaulters had > been using only carbon poles the entire outdoor season > - so their old poles were typically a lighter weight > rating. There was lots of borrowing going on - to get > the right weight "pure fibreglass" pole for the > weather. The FINAL declaration gave vaulters enough > time to retape their old or borrowed poles to Olympic > standards, but no time to practice on them. It wasn't > a dramatic day-of-the-meet thing that happened. > > "The biggest issue with the sudden ruling just days > before the competition was not that the playing field > got levelled. On the contrary, everyone had their > favourite poles, and were getting psyched to use them. > You all know how tough it is to switch to borrowed > poles without getting any practice on them beforehand. > > "In this situation, my hat goes off to Seagren (silver), > Johnson (bronze), and Simpson (5th) - who all had to > switch poles. They proved that pole selection and > familiarity is only one aspect of a true champion. > There has been no mention in this thread of swirling > winds - sometimes slight headwinds within the stadium. > The wind had just as much to do with the "low heights" > in the 1972 Olympics as the poles did, IMHO. (About 4" > under the WR.) Each of these vaulters were > competitive, fast runners who had plenty of experience > vaulting well under adverse conditions. Nordwig must > also be included as being competitive and fast. > > "Seagren had always been a media attention-getter (he > came by that honestly, since he'd been interviewed so > many times after breaking the world record several > times between 17-0 and 18-4 or so). So after his 3rd > miss, he did in fact "ceremoniously" present his pole > to Paulen, in front of all the cameras and the crowd. > That certainly made the TV coverage in the US and > Canada. If my recollection is correct, I think that > Paulen refused to accept the pole and then got booed! > > "Talent-wise, I considered Nordwig as the 3rd-best > vaulter there, until he cleared 5.50 for the > first-and-only time. Props for doing that with no > tailwind and in the biggest meet of the year. Compared > to the other vaulters, Nordwig had a unique technique > in that he dropped the lead knee rather dramatically > after the C - which I considered inferior - but that's > another story. > > "That's my take on it, to the best of my recollection at > the moment." > > Kirk Bryde > > > And here's Gérard's read on the matter: > > "Paulen was from Holland and yes, he was a bit "pro German". I was there > too and in my humble opinion I think that neither Johnson nor Seagren > would have beaten Nordwig that day had they been permitted ( which > should have been the case) to use their perches vertes. Nordwig was > unbeatable that day and although he only did 5.50m once ( like doing > 6.05m now ) he did it under enormous pressure with, at the time that he > jumped, a slight head wind. I am not pro German, see my personal > history, but Nordwig won because he was the best on that day. Johnson > did extremely well since his 5.35m, for the bronze medal,represents his > third best ever performance. 5.50m in 1972, 5.36i in 1970 are only > superior to that Munich jump. So I cannot see that he would have done > better there with a pole of different color. All the rest is literature > usually handled by "Runway coaches, Good weather coaches or Daffodils > coaches." > > > Gérard. > > "Yes, Seagren should have done something with his pole when Paulen asked > him to shake hands." > > > And finally, here are the Munich results, for anyone with patience enough to > have read through all that: > > 1. Wolfgang Nordwig GDR 5.50m 18' 1/4" > 2. Bob Seagren USA 5.40m 17'8 1/2" > 3. Jan Johnson USA 5.35m 17'6 1/2" > 4. Reinhard Kuretzky GER 5.30m 17'4 1/2" > 5. Bruce Simpson CAN 5.20m 17' 3/4" > 6. Volker Ohl GER 5.20m 17' 3/4" > 7. Hans Lagerqvist SWE 5.20m 17' 3/4" > 8. François Tracanelli FRA 5.10m 16'8 3/4" > > Cheers, > Roger > > > > > > +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ > This Mail Was Scanned By Mail-seCure System > at the Tel-Aviv University CC. > ---------------------------------------------------------------- This message was sent using IMP, the Internet Messaging Program.