2016 was a difficult year for Renaud Lavillenie: much of it of his own making.
At the European Championships in Amsterdam he took one vault of 5.60m
to qualify for the final, but then on the big day he waited until all of the finalist had
failed at 5.70 and entered the competition at 5.75m. He failed with all his three attempts.
One clearance of 5.60 would have won him the Gold medal ! See photos below.
His next big moment was the Olympic Games in Rio where he was defending his title.
But he lost to local man Thiago Braz da Silva. Lavillenie managed to clear 5.98m, easily with
his first attempt, but da Silva decided to skip 5.98m and went on to 6.03m. He cleared it
Renaud did not. The crowd was rather too partisan and the Frenchman was upset.
He compared his treatment to that of Jessie Owen being booed at the 1936 Olympics.
He apologized later.
2016 Rio Olympic Games.
Final men's pole vault competition.
| 1. |
Thiago Braz da Silva |
Brazil
|
6.03 |
OR |
AR |
| 2. |
Renaud Lavillenie |
France |
5.98 |
|
|
| 3. |
Sam Kendricks |
United States
|
5.85 |
|
|
| 4. |
Jan Kudlička |
Czech Republic |
5.75 |
|
|
| 5. |
Piotr Lisek |
Poland |
5.75 |
|
|
| 6. |
Xue Changrui |
China
|
5.65 |
|
|
| 7. |
Michal Balner |
Czech Republic
|
5.50 |
|
|
| 7. |
Konstadinos Filippidis |
Greece
|
5.50 |
|
|
| 7. |
Daichi Sawano |
Japan |
5.50 |
|
|
THE HERO FALLS TO EARTH.
