Pole Vault Round Table: Gerald Baudouin, Jogn Gormley, Serge Miroshnichenko, Alex Parnov, Steve Rippon, Mark Stewart

Mark Stewart convened this round table discussion on pole vault. Although all except one of the participants in this discussion is now Australian, from the background of the coaches it can be seen that as a group they have been exposed to ideas from all three of the great pole vault schools, American, Frenchand Russian.

Gerald Baudouin is the head pole vault coach at Institut National du Sport et de l’Education Physique (INSEP2) in France and is a former pole vaulter with a personal best of 5.80 metres in 1994.

John Gormley’s professional background was as an academic specializing in the interpretation and practical application of biomechanics in physical education and coaching. He has been coaching pole vault for many years, and coached the women’s gold medalist at the 2002 Commonwealth Games.

Serge Miroshnichenko was a professional athletics coach in the USSR/Russia from 1979 to 1998 and coached many international pole vaulters during this time. Since moving to Australia he has coached elite pole vaulters in South Australia and Queensland and again has produced a number of pole vaulters, including 2003 World Youth bronze medalist Charmaine Lucock.

Alex Parnov. Before moving to Australia in 1996 Alex was a pole vaulter (personal best 5.82 metres in 1985) and a coach in Russia. In Australia, Alex has worked in Adelaide and Perth coaching numerous international pole vaulters including the 2001 World Champion Dimitri Markov.

Steve Rippon is currently a professional athletics coach in the United Kingdom, but has previously coached in Australia and in the United States. He has produced many world class pole vaulters, including Paul Burgess whom he coached to the 1996 World Junior Championship gold medal.

Mark Stewart was Athletics Australia’s national event coordinator (pole vault) from 1999 to 2002, and has coached many international pole vaulters, including Emma George. Mark coached Emma from the middle of 1994 (at which time she had never pole vaulted) until the end of 1997, by which time she had set 10 World Records.

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