PA/USATF's Bob Olsen
Vaulting Then, Vaulting Now
Story and Photo by Bob Burns
It takes a certain type of person to pole vault. The event requires exceptional athletic ability – speed, strength and agility. More than that, though, it demands a certain devil-may-care attitude.
“I guess we’re the type of individuals who like taking risks,” said Fairfield resident Bob Olsen. “The pole vault has a lot of independent thinkers.”
Ordinary people cut back on their risk-taking when they reach their forties and fifties. Not Bob Olsen, a maverick whose Facebook page plugs Glenn Beck, the Pacific Association, Sergey Bubka and John Winston, the actor who played Lt. Kyle in the original Star Trek series. Olsen’s page lists his main interest as pole vaulting, and he still gets a youthful rush out of propelling himself upside down into the air at the age of 55.
He’s doing it extremely well for a man his age. Olsen earned a silver medal in the men’s 55-59 age group at the 2011 World Masters Athletics Championships in Sacramento, clearing 13 feet, 3½ inches to finish just two inches behind gold medalist Gary Hunter of Fort Wayne, Indiana.
The top three M55 finishers in Sacramento were Hunter, Olsen and Charles Brown, longtime friends and rivals who were vaulting higher than 17 feet a quarter-century ago and are still going at it.
“Pole vaulters share a great camaraderie, and this is especially true in our age group,” Hunter said.
Hunter has dominated masters vaulting for more than 10 years, setting a M50 world record of 15-7 in 2007. At last year’s USA Masters Outdoor Championships in Sacramento, Hunter finished first and Olsen was second. Olsen, a Division II All-American vaulter at Hayward State in the late 1970s, made the short drive to Sacramento hoping to turn the tables on his nemesis at the WMA Championships.
“With Gary, Charlie (Brown) and myself, we all figured it would take 14 feet to win,” Olsen said.
The WMA final on the early morning of July 13 at Sacramento State’s Hornet Stadium was held in unseasonably cool conditions. Crosswinds presented an additional obstacle.
By the time Hunter cleared his opening height of 13-11⁄2, Olsen had already taken five jumps at four different heights. But Olsen took the lead with his second-attempt clearance of 13- 1⁄2. Hunter needed three tries at 13-3 1⁄2.
At 13-5¼, Olsen’s hopes for an upset ran out. He missed all three attempts while Hunter cleared the winning height on his first try.
“Even up to the last vault, I felt I was going to win,” Olsen said.
Olsen’s goal is to top the U.S.M55 record of 14-3¼, set by Brown in 2010. Hunter obviously has eyes fixed on the same record, but he thinks Olsen has the ability to do it.
“Bob still has very good speed that will equate to higher jumps in the future,” Hunter said. “I believe he’s capable of jumping higher than 15 feet.”
Olsen was a gymnast as a young boy growing up in the East Bay. At Pleasant Hill High School, the track coach had his athletes try an informal decathlon, and Olsen discovered that he had a knack for the pole vault.
“I picked up the pole, and doggone it, it felt good,” Olsen said.
Olsen qualified for the state high school meet as a senior and continued vaulting at Hayward State, where he was a member of the 1977 men’s team that won the NCAA Division II championship. His best mark as a collegian was 16-8.
“One of the big goals for me was to make 17 feet,” said Olsen, who accomplished the feat in 1980. “I just really liked the pole vault. It’s something you want to do and want to do it really bad.”
He coached the vault at Laney College and Hayward State (now Cal State East Bay) after graduation while continuing to compete. Olsen’s Norwegian ancestry helped him gain entrance to a number of Scandinavian meets, including the prestigious Bislett Games in Oslo. He topped out at 17-8½ and had the time of his life.
“I’d compare my career to a sitcom,” Olsen said. “I got an occasional speaking part but was never a star.”
While injuries made vaulting an on-and-off proposition as he began pushing 30, Olsen continued to share his passion through his coaching. He worked with former Cal standout Brent Burns, a two-time qualifier for the U.S. Olympic Trials, and coached vaulters at UC Davis for several years in the 1990s. Olsen currently teaches middle-school physical education and coaches at Acalanes High School in Lafayette.
As far as competing goes, he’s not about to stop now.
“The pole vault is hard,” Olsen said. “It’s the hardest thing I do. At my age, I have to be really careful not to get hurt. I’m even careful when I’m doing yard work.
“This last year, my body’s starting to come around. I might see some daylight here.”
