Athletics at the 1992 Summer Olympics – Men's pole vault

These are the official results of the Men's Pole Vault event at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. There were a total number of 35 participating athletes. The qualification mark was set at 5.60 metres (six + six athletes).

The former Soviet vaulters, competing for the Unified Team in the aftermath of the Soviet Union continued to dominate the event they had swept 4 years earlier. By this time Sergey Bubka had further cemented his dominance, already pushing the world record to a height that has not been cleared by any other human being to this day. But Bubka seemed cursed at the Olympics, missing 1984 by boycott, and then failing to clear his opening height (two attempts at 5.70--41 cm below his world record and one at 5.75).

This was a remarkably clean competition, with only three athletes having a miss at a height that was not their best or better in the competition. Maksim Tarasov took gold with only three attempts, clean through 5.80. Igor Trandenkov equalled Tarasov, but took three attempts to clear 5.80. Javier García took bronze in his home town by clearing 5.75 on his second attempt, to edge American Kory Tarpenning who cleared it on his third.

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in metres) prior to the 1992 Summer Olympics.

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