World Record: 4.77m Cornelius Warmerdam, United States Modesto, United States May 23, 1942
Olympic Record: 4.35 Earle Meadows, United States Berlin, Germany August 5, 1936
Nineteen of 25 competitors cleared 4.00 in qualifying, which meant
that another long final was in prospect. It took five hours to complete,
with four men beating the previous Olympic record. Olenius of Finland
failed to clear 4.40, but made 4.30 to set a Finnish record in fifth place.
All of the four contenders cleared 4.40 first time, and then all missed
4.50 with their first attempts. Laz and then Richards cleared on their
second jumps, though Richards brushed the bar on his jump. Laz then
failed three times at 4.55, bringing the prospect of a jump-off if
Richards missed. He produced his best jump of the day, and leaped out
of the pit triumphantly. Third place was decided on the basis of
Lundberg having taken fewer jumps than Denisenko, though they had
the same number of failures.
United States
Sweden
Soviet Union
Finland
Japan
Hungary
Yugoslavia
Greece
Iceland
Norway
Greece
Romania
Switzerland
Canada
Great Britain
Poland
Brazil
Egypt
Puerto Rico
