New Delhi: A female pole vaulter propels herself high in the sky in Google's ninth doodle during the ongoing London Olympic Games. The Google logo looms behind the stadium, the ceiling of which is painted in Google colours - blue, red, yellow and green.
Pole vault is one of the field events in the athletics programme in London 2012. In the sport of pole vault, athletes take a up with a pole in their hands and use it to propel themselves over a bar. There is no restriction on the length or diameter of the pole, the requirement is that the pole must be smooth.
Athletes propel themselves by planting the end of their pole into a box at the base of the landing area, and using their speed, momentum and the bend of the pole to get themselves over the bar.
There are different heights that athletes can choose to jump over at their own discretion. Failing in three consecutive jumps leads to elimination. Once the a height is completed or passed, the bar is raised for the next set of jumps.
The legendary Ukrainian pole vaulter Sergey Bubka holds the men's world record of a height of 6.14 metres set on July 31, 1994 in Sestriere, Italy. The Olympic record was set by Steven Hooker with 5.96 metres on August 22, 2008 at Beijing.
The London 2012 pole vault men's qualification rounds are scheduled for August 8 and the final is on August 10.
The women's world and Olympic records are held by Russia's Elena Isinbaeva. Her world record is for 5.06 metres and the Olympic record is 5.05 metres.
The London 2012 pole vault women's qualification rounds are scheduled for August 4 and the final is on August 6. There are no Indian participants in the London 2012 pole vault events.
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