This lantern slide, “Pole Vaulting I (c. 1900),” shows a pole-vaulter practicing. The image may be an image of W. W. Hoyt pole vaulting. W. W. Hoyt was a pole vaulter from Harvard, class of 1898, who won a gold medal in pole vaulting in the 1896 Olympics, the first modern day Olympics. The image may have been used by Springfield College (at the time the International YMCA training School) faculty to teach students how to pole vault.
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Publisher:
Springfield College
Notes:
Pole vaulting is a track and field event where the athlete uses a long, flexible pole as an aid to clear a crossbar supported on two uprights (standards) without knocking it down. Ancient Greeks, Cretans, and Celts all held pole jumping competitions, and it has been a full medal event at the Olympic Games since 1896 for men and 2000 for women. Physical attributes such as speed, agility and strength are essential to pole vaulting effectively, but technical skill is an equally if not more important element. The International YMCA Training School curriculum included sport skill instruction on the high jump, long jump, pole vault, discus, javelin, shot put, football, swimming, lawn tennis, baseball, basketball, rowing, and volleyball.
W. W. Hoyt identification comes from cataloger note and has not been verified;