I copied this from a very old encyclopedia. If you have any more information please send it to me at prsport1@aol.com and I will add it to this article. Eddie

Pole vaulting is the art of springing over an obstacle with the aid of a pole of staff. It is probable that an exercise of the kind was a feature of Greek gymnastics, but with this exception there is no record of its ancient practice as a sport. As a practical means of passing over such natural obstacles as canals and brooks it has been made use of in many parts of the world, for instance in the marshy provinces along the North Sea and the great level of the fens of Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire, Lincolnshire and Norfolk. The artificial draining of there marshes brought into existence a network of open drains or canals intersection each other at right angles. In order to cross there dryshod, andat the same time avoid tedious roundabout journeys over the bridges, a stack of jumping poles was kept at every house, which were commonly used for vaulting over the canals.

As a sport, pole vaulting made its appearance in Germany in the first part of the 19^th century, when it wa added to the gymnastics exercises of the Turner by Johann C. F. GutsMuths and Frederich L. Jahn. In Great Britain it was first commonly practised at the Caledonian games. It is now an event in the athletic championships of nearly all nations.