First we take the really big mattress, then the world!

Bazza says:

08:46am | 09/08/12

the commentators were saying Hooker was the leading voice among the vaulters. With his present form it is no wonder he wanted to get 14 or 16 through to the final round. He is a pretty smart guy, I think.

Joan says:

10:23am | 09/08/12

The pole vault was OK . It did finish short and a bit of a let down . What I found gauling was the male triathlon guy picking up flag to wear around shoulders before finish and then walking across the finish line. I think he should have been disqualified - he was walking not running when he finished the race.

Lucas says:

10:26am | 09/08/12

Meh, the competitors put themselves first and rightfully so. Why should they take any more risks to knock 14 guys down to 12 with no chance of actually getting runs on the board for the final. Extra competing would merely be a chance to injure yourself and would have reduced the experience for 2 guys, knocking them out before they really needed to be.

2 vaulters are now going to have the excitement of the final which they wouldn’t previously have seen.

Paul says:

10:47am | 09/08/12

The punters had already got two hours worth of competition from these guys…Just because channel 9 didin’e show it, doesn’t mean it didn’t happen!

Dan says:

10:58am | 09/08/12

@Joan on that basis you’d have to strip Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake of their medals. Neither would have made it through the heats.

If you’re that good you can stroll over the line, why not?

Joan says:

11:51am | 09/08/12

Dan: Its not OK to run in a walking race, why is it OK to walk in a running race?  I didn’t see how other guys qualified but if they decided to walk instead of run - then they should be disqualified too. Is it OK to do dog paddle instead of breast stroke just cos you`re ahead?. I think not. The mens triatholon finish was a digraceful conclusion to a gruelling event. - the world deserved a finer more humble conclusion than a smart arse draped, walking end . The guy lost my respect. that perhaps deserved,  by his arrogant,  smart aleck action. While one contestant loses 15 seconds due to incorrect mounting of bike another allowed to wander around track to finish line wearing flag doing has he pleases. No its not right. He should have been disqualified.

Mark says:

01:26pm | 09/08/12

joan if the guy has done so well to be so far in front that he can walk around for a bit then its fine. he’s not gaining any advantage which is the complaint about running in the walking events. get a grip.

Martin says:

02:26pm | 09/08/12

WTH is Joan on? don’t drink and type.

M says:

02:47pm | 09/08/12

I reckon she’s been pulling cones with acotrel.

Shane* says:

03:01pm | 09/08/12

@Joan,

Did you realise that a ‘freestyle’ swimming race is technically a race for whatever stroke the swimmer chooses. Hence: freestyle. The actual stroke 99.9999% of them swim is called front crawl, which is the fastest. If someone swam butterfly faster than front crawl, they’d be well within their rights to swim in that fashion.

In a triathlon, the final leg is not technically a running race. It is a race across land, sans equipment. If any athlete was able to crab crawl backwards faster than he/she could run, they would be entitled to do so. It’s not a running race. If Usain Bolt could hop from A to B fastest, he would be allowed to do so, too.

sunny says:

06:36pm | 09/08/12

Shane* That’s an interesting point. If someone was round enough, and had good technique, they could probably “roll” with a lot more energy efficiency than running. Geez they’d be dizzy after the race though.

Andrew says:

07:16pm | 09/08/12

You are f&*^%$# kidding, right Joan. Running in a walking race is cheating and aadvantage because running is faster then walking. Walking in a running race is usually a disadvantage so if someone wants to walk and not run then thats there problem. And Arnold they didnt just pay to see the pole vault, there was plenty of other action for them to see.

Darren says:

09:50am | 09/08/12

Finally someone has said it the way we all think it is.  Swimmer have been all about themselves this Olympics.  They cried if they didn’t get a GOLD even when they got a Silver or Bronze.  What, did they just realise they wouldn’t get that big Uncle Tody’s contract.  Stephanie Rice was more worried about what photos she could take of her self next & everything else apart from her swimming & the young girl who was up Twitting til the am hours before her final.  Sooked when she didn’t get Gold.  Athletes too young that just don’t have the dedication.  It’s just like them going on a big Schoolies week.  It’s all about them & sook if they don’t get what they want.

That Beach Velley ball woman was more concerned about a ffemale carrying the flag when she should have been worrying about her sport.

Don’t see the womens Basketballers crying when they don’t win something.  Just seems to be the swimmer & some of our track (so called) stars.

Leah says:

12:56pm | 09/08/12

I actually really like Steve Hooker and think he is a very down-to-earth and normal guy. Who cares if he thinks his form is down? And lots of pole vaulters do a forward-flip when they land on the mat, he isn’t being a show-off when he does that.

Darren, use some common sense. Very few of our swimmers cried and the ones who did had reasonable reason to in my view. Take for example Emily Seebohm. She had actually swum a faster race than that in her heats, and if she’d swum the same speed as her heat would have got gold. I can understand that’s a massive disappointment and with the adrenaline, pressure and emotion of the moment anything can trigger tears. I am sure in hindsight she is quite happy with her silver but in the shock of the moment you can’t really control that immense disappointment. She didn’t “sook” that she didn’t get gold, idiot interviewers kept harping on at her about it so she had to say sometihng. But then look at someone like Bronte Barratt who wasn’t really expecting to take home gold and she was very happy with her bronze.

As for Stephanie Rice, I hope you realise she has had glandular fever on and off for the past two years and had surgery this year - how anyone can expect her to be at the top of her form is beyond me. Just because she spends a few minutes taking photos of herself (which I willingly admit isn’t my cup of tea) doesn’t mean she’s not dedicated to her sport. They’re not expected to be swimming 24 hours a day.

Ben says:

01:24pm | 09/08/12

So you would rather us be like the American “Yeahhh we’re awesome broo!!! We gonna kick asss!!!!!”

I’ll take a humble silver medalist than an arrogant gold anyday.

Zoe says:

03:08pm | 09/08/12

There was nothing humble about sooking over a silver medal. That was embarrassing. kids dont even do that at sports day once they turn 5!
I think our swimmers do a great job just to get there but making them think theyre celebrities was a bad move.
The young bloke in the 400mtr run who came last in the final was a far better sport.

Blackadder says:

11:41pm | 09/08/12

When Sally Pearson and Anna Meares were being interviewed after their wins, both acknowledged a social media / media ban in the weeks leading up to, and during the games, and concentrated on training and mental preparation. Both won gold. Their passion and dedication is an example to all on “how to do it”. Fantastic effort girls - you’re an inspiration. Now take a look at the swim team…treated like stars, expected to win, preoccupied with Twitter, FB and pubs, reveling in the adulation showered on them all before competing…and proceeded to fail spectacularly. As for Hooker, well, it’s a small pole-vaulting community…why not have 14 in the final rather than a handful. Let common sens prevail over the rule-book. Makes for a better viewing spectacle.

Kim says:

02:29am | 10/08/12

Zoe, there’s nothing arrogant about expressing disappointment. They cried, that isn’t arrogant at all.

Testfest says:

11:45am | 09/08/12

Karl Stefanovic’s comments were really petulant and childish. I never liked him much, but now I think even less of him.

I think it’s great that the male pole vaulters have such a good relationship. Sure they compete against each other, but there’s a lot of respect and good feeling towards the other athletes. The fact that the top guys don’t feel any need to thin out the number of opponents that compete in the final says a lot to me.

As far as I am concerned, more guys competing in the final will mean a more interesting contest for the viewers.

Compare that with the women’s pole vault, where none of them will so much as look at another competitor, let alone talk to them. I know which competition I would rather be competing in…

Simon says:

12:58pm | 09/08/12

I know which one i’d rather watch ...( Tat’s bum anyone?)

Zoe says:

03:21pm | 09/08/12

What does everyone expect of Karl. He really doesnt think before he opens his mouth. The whole coverage has been pretty bad this year.
First female boxing match ever in olympics. Next minute round one is over, Jeep ad plays about 15 times in between coles ads, then back to something else.
Teenage son is seriously p***** off. Dont even know who won.

Andrew says:

07:22pm | 09/08/12

Well actually it was a prietty valid comment wasnt it, after all they were refusing to compete. Tell me what other sport would the officials allowed the contestants to dictate terms. Seriously the officials should have said if you dont continue jumping you will be disqualified. If you dont like Karl fine, but how anyone could say that his comment wasnt valid is beyond me.

It Was A Joke says:

11:49pm | 09/08/12

Karl actually said it with a grin…I laughed when he said it. At least he has the balls to make jokes and make light of events. Too often these sports commentaries are too serious. Though I’m thoroughly sick of hearing “our boiyz” and “our gurlz” every damn sentence over at the rowing facility. Boof-headed footy commentators shouldn’t be let near any other sport…

M says:

08:57am | 09/08/12

They were ready to take a leap of faith and sail gracefully over all the nay sayers, but alas, the bar was set too high.

Tim says:

09:06am | 09/08/12

No,
The vaulters just wanted more athletes (16-17) to make it to the final but the officials wanted them to keep going until they’d culled it to 12.

They ended up compromising at 14.

AdamC says:

09:32am | 09/08/12

@Mahhrat, from what I can gather, the pole vaulters all got together and decided they would not attempt any higher jumps that day. It sounds a bit weird to me. I mean, they are there to jump (or vault or whatever).

M says:

10:06am | 09/08/12

So much for Citius, Altius, Fortius

St. Michael says:

11:06am | 09/08/12

That’s what you get when there’s no Worker’s Comp to sponge off.

Andrew says:

07:26pm | 09/08/12

Okay I will correct you, he actually managed to jump at the last meet (possibly the last two) which was a pleasent surprise as he has been choking and not been able to jump at nearly every meet for 12 months or so before that

bazza says:

09:18am | 09/08/12

@iansand..  if the athletes want to run the show they should retire and go into sports admin, until then they need to play by the rules. What about all the vaulters of the past who have played by the rules for a century plus, do they not deserve some respect from the current mob. I think it was more about Hooker and his self interest, making sure he made the final round.

Arnold Layne says:

09:26am | 09/08/12

I doubt you’re the only one but I respectfully disagree.  The athletes are there to compete, the officials are there to officiate.  If the athletes have suggestions over how the sport could be officiated better there are proper channels to go through to have that happen.  The time isn’t during the middle of the Olympic qualifying period in my opinion.

The athletes who had cleared 5.50 at the first attempt continued to refuse to jump until those who had cleared at the second or third attempt had failed at a greater height, then called it off.  Legal, just dodgy.

Max Redlands says:

09:30am | 09/08/12

@ iansand - no you’re not alone. That thought occurred to me as well. It was like a throw-back to days long gone where the participants, if they are all agreed, determined the rules of the game and only had officals involved if agreement could not be reached on the rules or their interpretation.

I thought it “refreshing” (if you’ll pardon the expression) and interesting. A modern day glimpse into the golden age of sport.

Rose says:

09:38am | 09/08/12

Well if Luthien’s description of events is correct then the athletes made a lot of sense, why go through a whole process just to trim the field by four people. just put them all up and see who wins.
Generally though, it’s possible that athlete’s would want to sway officialdom in order to give themselves an extra edge, so there needs to be a balance, but athlete’s input should be valued and considered.

iansand says:

10:51am | 09/08/12

Actually, bazza, my theory is that the sports administrators should run the show for the athletes.  Too many administrators appear to think that the athletes are commodities to justify the careers of the administrators.

St. Michael says:

11:13am | 09/08/12

BMX is a strange sport.  There’s absolutely no evidence to suggest the Greeks ever included it in the original Olympic games. There’s also little evidence to suggest it ever might have been used to leap over tall piles of dirt.

The Greeks carried the longest bicycle of the ancient world, a Penny Farthing, which was roughly the length of a modern BMX rider’s penis. As well as being a pretty brutal weapon to have to walk into a bar with, it was also used for crossing roads and skate parks and what not. Ancient cyclists often used their penises as a means of crossing water because pretty much everything they carried was rendered useless when wet or dry.

They did not, however, use their BMXes for jumping over walls. This was completely inpractical. Pre Christian fortifications were usually built on hills, which would make trick riding over them completely uncool.

The people who did the most amazing tricks with BMXes were the BMX Bandits. The Australian History of Cinema is full of feats of riding that make the Olympics look like little athletics. The principal hero of BMX Bandits myth, Nicole Kidman, could balance with one foot on the back of her butt and her penis driven into the ground. She could also throw her husband while laying flat on her back using her bare feet. Early Christian missionaries to Hollywood described the Scientologists engaging in competitions to see who could perform the most amazing feats - today, when kids perform stunts they learned on TV shows, they’re idiots, in Hollywood, they were heroes, go figure.

The closest thing to BMX the Scientologists did was described in the BMX Bandits movie as the ‘shield feet’. Kidman was said to be able to leap as high as a man’s shield is tall, step on the rim of the shield, and vault herself over an enemy’s lawyers. This, I think, would make a much better Olympic sport than BMX and synchronised swimming, and the Scientologists thought so too.

(Me, I’m actually for caber toss going into the Olympics next year.)

Zeta says:

12:01pm | 09/08/12

@ St. Michael - I did get a serious laugh out of that.

Tesfest says:

12:09pm | 09/08/12

@St Michael

I don’t normally agree with many of your posts, but that was freaking hilarious.

Zeta says:

12:24pm | 09/08/12

If someone could parody me that well every day we could start our own website.

St. Michael says:

02:03pm | 09/08/12

That would be a bit tougher, Zeta.  BMX and its association with Nicole Kidman’s penis is just shooting fish in a barrel for comedy value.

Blind Freddy says:

02:51pm | 09/08/12

“The precise origin of pole vaulting isn’t known. It was likely discovered independently in a variety of cultures as a way of surmounting physical obstacles, such as streams or irrigation ditches. Egyptian relief sculptures from approximately 2500 B.C. depict warriors using poles to surmount enemy walls.

The first known pole vault competitions were held during the Irish Tailteann Games, which date back as far as 1829 B.C. The sport was an original modern Olympic event in 1896.”

http://trackandfield.about.com/od/polevault/ss/illuspolevault.htm

Zoe says:

03:14pm | 09/08/12

@ St Michael, I just laughed so hard my dog came over to see what was going on. You just made my day. Too funny

Gordon says:

05:29pm | 09/08/12

Has it been established that Nicole Kidman has a penis? Where is your peer reviewed science.

PS little know fact Cuchulain finished up playing back pocket for Essendon

St. Michael says:

12:28pm | 10/08/12

Gordon, the Louvre in Paris keeps the penis on display right next to the Mona Lisa.  There’s been some damage over the intervening centuries, what with the primitive pickling techniques used to keep it fresh on its long journey from Australia to Paris, but it’s in relatively good shape for a twelve-hundred-year-old appendage.

Testfest says:

11:34am | 09/08/12

Thanks for that amazing photo Lisa. I think that would qualify pole vault as the first “extreme sport” of the modern age.

Amanda says:

11:53am | 09/08/12

really? my, what a nice soft landing (insert sarcasm here). That just seems cruel.

Amanda says:

11:54am | 09/08/12

really? my, what a nice soft landing (insert sarcasm here). That just seems cruel.

captain crunky says:

12:32pm | 09/08/12

wow. hardcore or what.

Ginger Mick says:

04:30pm | 09/08/12

Bloody raining then, too!

Centrifugal Horses says:

11:56am | 09/08/12

Ta for making me giggle. I’ve read four other non-political blogs on my lunch break this today, including a sign-in blog about the Bay City Rollers*. Sure enough, there just HAD to be the the token comments regarding KRudd, Mr Abbott and Juliar. Pure out-of-the-blue ‘WTF??’ comments, which were as relevant to the topics being discussed as my mentioning of the Bay City Rollers is to pole vaulting (albeit am sure some of their groupies competed in a certain style of pole vaulting). 

*(Sigh. I really thought that by now I would have dated one of the Bay City Rollers. Any of them, really - except the one who looked like Warwick Capper, and the kiddie fiddler. Actually they may be one and the same).

St. Michael says:

02:01pm | 09/08/12

...Hang on, why were the Bay City Rollers in the pole vault?

Punters Pal says:

11:43am | 09/08/12

Too hot, too cold, too rainy, too windy. It is outdoor sport and they should just toughen up, FFS.

I was watching it and got the feeling that Hooker was being shop steward and all the other vaulters were following him like sheep. Makes you proud, our little Aussie battler raising up against dark forces of sporting administrators.

Testfest says:

12:47pm | 09/08/12

@Punters Pal

Well it won’t end in the “slippery slope” logical fallacy that you’ve demonstrated just there.

Ear to the Groun says:

04:02pm | 09/08/12

nope.  Not a single one of them cleared the automatic qualifying height on 5.7m.  A bunch cleared 5.5m and then said they didn’t want to jump anymore.  Several who also cleared 5.5m missed out because they did it on the second or third attempt.

I wish I was the official in charge.  I’d have had my red pen out to cross out the names of each athlete as they said they didn’t want to jump - “You jumping?  No?  There’s the door.  See you at the next Olympics!”.  Reckon that would have sorted them out quick smart!

Zoe says:

03:25pm | 09/08/12

Ha Ha. Love it!

Testfest says:

04:34pm | 09/08/12

@Hmmmm
“Make of that what you will.”

I make that it was a triumph for reasonable and intelligent men. Pole vault is a field event, there is no practical limit to how many competitors can go through to a final round - unlike some track events which are limited to 8 because they only have 8 lanes.

I admire the officials sensible and practical approach to the matter, when they could have been complete toolbags that slavishly insisted upon following the rules to the letter of the law, and never questioning the reasoning behind them.

12 guys qualify, 14 guys qualify, who gives a damn? What possible difference does it make? Except now there’s two more guys who can tell their kids “I made it to the final round of an Olympic competition”.

Good for them!

Testfest says:

04:35pm | 09/08/12

@Hmmmm
“Make of that what you will.”

I make that it was a triumph for reasonable and intelligent men. Pole vault is a field event, there is no practical limit to how many competitors can go through to a final round - unlike some track events which are limited to 8 because they only have 8 lanes.

I admire the officials sensible and practical approach to the matter, when they could have been complete toolbags that slavishly insisted upon following the rules to the letter of the law, and never questioning the reasoning behind them.

12 guys qualify, 14 guys qualify, who gives a damn? What possible difference does it make? Except now there’s two more guys who can tell their kids “I made it to the final round of an Olympic competition”.

Good for them!

Andrew says:

07:36pm | 09/08/12

What BS Testfest, Why only 14, why not sent the whole 16 though, what did those 2 do to miss out, what about the men and woman who came 13 and 14 in the javellin, the shot put, the discus, the high jump, the long jump, the triple jump why didnt they deserve to be in the final. There are suppose to be 12 in the final and they should have been made to compete until there was 12 left.

Russelle says:

08:41am | 10/08/12

@ Andrew, the reason that officials could not end the competition when there were 16 competitors is that the French Competitor had not had a jump yet.  He had sat out of the competition and elected to join at 5.6M.  They couldn’t allow all competitors to go through without the French having to jump.  Those other 2 competitors who were eliminated at the height of 5.6M had the option to pass the height, like the rest of the vaulters.  Vaulters are within their rights to pass heights.  The competitors who were eliminated chose to jump at 5.6M and eliminated themselves.  If they had have stood with the rest of the group they too would be in the final.