Carr wins battle of Americans for pole vault gold
The men’s pole vault at the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam was less of a guessing game about which nation would provide the winner, more a matter of which American would claim the ultimate glory.
Athletics
They completely dominated the competition.
The favourites going into the event on a rainy afternoon in Holland were Sabin Carr and Lee Barnes, the winner of the 1924 gold in Paris.
Carr and Barnes had spent the previous 12 months exchanging the world record and when both comfortably cleared the qualifying mark of 12 feet in the preliminaries the stage was set for a terrific finale.
The elements did not play in their favour with a strong, gusting wind and heavy rain making the run-up and landing equally treacherous.
However Carr was the one who excelled in the trying conditions.
He set a new Olympic record of 13ft 7 inches to win the gold medal by a margin of over three inches to continue the Americans’ good run in the field events after the poor showing of their athletes on the track.
Barnes, who later achieved fame as a stunt double for the silent movie star Buster Keaton, finished in a disappointing fifth place with the silver going to American William Droegemuller and team-mate Charles McGinnis in third.