> IIt is not a question of pursist, it is a question of what is right > and wrong. Volzing is a deliberate vilation of the rules, so bad that severe > penalties should be placed on vaulters who regularly use it. I am talming > about long-term suspension from the sport, not just negating the vaulkt on > which it takes place, not even just disqualifying the vaulter from the > evenmt.
Unbelieveable that you could say this. You always have strong opinions and I usually agree with them, but not in this case. Even if you are opposed to volzing itself, your position is nothing short of reactionary. Should we suspend all the hurdlers who deliberately hit hurdles (and many do)? Of course not. Most of the time the officials don't even call it, although in my opinion they should if they were interpreting the rulebook literally. I would never be asked to officiate again if I even dq'd - let alone suspended - an athlete who's steps got off and rather than adjust the steps (and slow down) ploughed through the hurdles. If that's not deliberate, then most volzing isn't deliberate, either. I am strongly in favor of removing the restrictions on volzing, as are a majority of active pole vaulters. If an athlete, while being snapped up in the air and performing a gymnastic twist around a bar, is able to use his/her hands to steady the bar, then more power to them. The pole vault is an event with rules, not some pure test of the ability to vault yourself over an object. If one believes the rules are detracting from the event - as I do and the athletes quoted in T&FN do - then one should speak up about them. Now, I agree with you about officials who won't call it - this rule clearly affects records and comparative performances and it does a disservice not to have a consistent rule on something integral to the competition like this. I have officiated the pole vault only once at the USATF level since the volzing rule was put in place, and I warned one competitor who was close to having done it. It was a judgement call whether he deliberately steadied the bar and I wasn't sure, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt and gave him a warning. I told him after the competition that I thought the rule was dumb but that I had to enforce it. I will say this - if the problem of officials not calling it is bad enough that the IAAF felt compelled to make the pegs smaller and change the crossbar as a response, then that suggests that maybe the officials are in agreement with the athletes on this and the IAAF should learn from that. Outlawing volzing forces the officials to make judgements they shouldn't have to make. I have no idea who the heck was complaining about it when the rule was put in place a few years ago - maybe with Bubka's retirement approaching, the Ukraine/Russian federation were the ones. The IAAF has now created a problem (officating judgement calls) where there wasn't one before (few fans were leaving the event when they saw someone volzing!). What's fair is when everyone plays by the same set of rules. Until the rule is changed, officials should be enforcing it. If it's changed, the event will be even more fair, because the event will remove that chance of being decided on an official's judgement on volzing. - Ed Parrot
