Pole Vault Olympic Stadium

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Pole Inner layer: Wound fibreglass builds resistance to twisting

Middle layer: Carbon-fibre webbing

London Olympics men’s pole vault gold medallist Renaud Lavillenie (FRA)

Run-up Vaulter accelerates down 45m runway, achieving maximum speed
at take-off

Outer layer: High-strength carbon fibre provides high-bending stiffness

Kinetic energy: Elastic energy stored as pole bends is released
at top of flight path, projecting athlete over bar

Landing mat

Olympic records

Renaud Lavillenie (FRA) London, 2012 5.97m

Yelena Isinbaeva (RUS) Beijing, 2008 5.05m

World records

Renaud Lavillenie (FRA) Donetsk, 2014 6.16m

Yelena Isinbaeva (RUS) Zürich, 2009 5.06m

Sources: Rio 2016, Olympic.org, IAAF

Pictures: Associated Press