Men's Top Ten All-Time
Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2005 6:52 pm
Okkert who? A part of my original intention in asking list members to try to remember the top five vaulters all-time was that I thought most would not include Okkert Brits in that elite group. That interest arose for me when I noted that his 2005 outdoor best (in two meets) was only 5.00 and might foretell ending of a career that I thought had been largely under-appreciated.
In his "Who's Who in Pole Vaulting," Gerard Dumas attributes some of this under-appreciation of the South African to many of his best outdoor heights being recorded during what is the indoor season for most of the world.
Another explanation might be that, despite his recording a PB 6.03 meters in 1996 and following it with 6.01 in 1997, and despite his being a top-ten vaulter seven of the last ten years, Brits has not been a big-meet performer. In 1993, with a SB of 5.85 prior to the Commonwealth Games, his first big international test, he no-heighted. In 2002, he won the CWG and in 2003 was silver medalist at the Paris/Saint-Denis World Championships. Between 1993 and 2002, though, his best finish in a world championships or olympics was a fourth at the world championships in 1995.
By now, it seems even to me that I'm dissing Brits, but that wasn't my purpose. My intention was to draw attention to his still being, ten years after his PB, tied for fourth-best height of all time.
I promised to add some dimension to that by listing the all-time top ten outdoor vaulters. Since eighth place involves a four-way tie for height, that also gives me the chance to list all of the vaulters who have done six meters or better:
Men's All-time Top 10 (eleven)
6.14 Sergey Bubka (UKR) Sestriere 1994-07-31
6.05 Maksim Tarasov (RUS) AthÃÂna 1999-06-16
6.05 Dmitriy Markov (AUS) Edmonton 2001-08-09
6.03 Okkert Brits (RSA) Köln 1995-08-18
6.03 Jeff Hartwig (USA) Uniondale 1998-07-21
6.01 Igor Trandenkov (RUS) Saint Petersburg 1996-07-04
6.01 Tim Mack (USA) Monaco 2004-09-18
6.00 Rodion Gataullin (RUS) Tokyo 1989-09-16
6.00 Tim Lobinger (GER) Köln 1997-08-24
6.00 Toby Stevenson (USA) Modesto 2004-05-08
6.00 Paul Burgess (AUS) Perth 2005-02-26
In his "Who's Who in Pole Vaulting," Gerard Dumas attributes some of this under-appreciation of the South African to many of his best outdoor heights being recorded during what is the indoor season for most of the world.
Another explanation might be that, despite his recording a PB 6.03 meters in 1996 and following it with 6.01 in 1997, and despite his being a top-ten vaulter seven of the last ten years, Brits has not been a big-meet performer. In 1993, with a SB of 5.85 prior to the Commonwealth Games, his first big international test, he no-heighted. In 2002, he won the CWG and in 2003 was silver medalist at the Paris/Saint-Denis World Championships. Between 1993 and 2002, though, his best finish in a world championships or olympics was a fourth at the world championships in 1995.
By now, it seems even to me that I'm dissing Brits, but that wasn't my purpose. My intention was to draw attention to his still being, ten years after his PB, tied for fourth-best height of all time.
I promised to add some dimension to that by listing the all-time top ten outdoor vaulters. Since eighth place involves a four-way tie for height, that also gives me the chance to list all of the vaulters who have done six meters or better:
Men's All-time Top 10 (eleven)
6.14 Sergey Bubka (UKR) Sestriere 1994-07-31
6.05 Maksim Tarasov (RUS) AthÃÂna 1999-06-16
6.05 Dmitriy Markov (AUS) Edmonton 2001-08-09
6.03 Okkert Brits (RSA) Köln 1995-08-18
6.03 Jeff Hartwig (USA) Uniondale 1998-07-21
6.01 Igor Trandenkov (RUS) Saint Petersburg 1996-07-04
6.01 Tim Mack (USA) Monaco 2004-09-18
6.00 Rodion Gataullin (RUS) Tokyo 1989-09-16
6.00 Tim Lobinger (GER) Köln 1997-08-24
6.00 Toby Stevenson (USA) Modesto 2004-05-08
6.00 Paul Burgess (AUS) Perth 2005-02-26