University Wire
02-26-2002
(The Daily Iowan) (U-WIRE) IOWA CITY, Iowa -- In light of the death of
19-year-old Penn State pole vaulter Kevin Dare at the Big Ten indoor
track and field championships on Feb. 23, many around the nation have
become aware of the risk involved with pole vaulting.
But to those in the track and field world, the risk comes with the territory.
"People think that pole vault is the most dangerous of all sports,"
said Iowa men's track and field coach Larry Wieczorek. "I've been
coaching for a long time, and there isn't that element of danger to it."
Dare's fatal headfirst fall while attempting a 15-7 vault on Feb. 23
may make people outside the track world overly excited about the peril
involved with the sport. But Dare's accident was just that -- a
deviation from the norm.
"The accident that happened is just one of those crazy things that
happens. It's not common, obviously, otherwise they wouldn't allow the
sport," said Iowa's lone pole vaulter, Jessie Strand, a junior on the
Iowa women's track team.
Both Strand and Wieczorek spoke of the dangers involved in other
sports, especially football, as opposed to pole vaulting. Last fall,
the deaths of Minnesota Vikings tackle Korey Stringer and Northwestern
free safety Rashidi Wheeler led to many speculative headlines about the
dangers of the pigskin.
Now, it's pole vaulting's turn to weather the windstorm of criticism,
and with a few states, including Iowa, already having dropped the event
because of its dangers, the criticism might get rough.
But Wieczorek said the risks involved just don't warrant any type of ban.
"My first reaction is to say that [the risk] is not too high, and it's
kind of hard to say that when somebody just died, but there are lots of
sports that have elements of danger in them," he said.
A ban probably isn't even a possibility at the college level, Wieczorek
said, but measures can be taken to try to prevent as many future
tragedies as possible. Landing pits have been expanded in recent years,
and another option may be implementing helmets, Wieczorek said; after
all, increased safety equipment is nothing new to the sporting world.
"Something like [helmets] couldn't be a bad idea," he said. "There was
a time when football players didn't wear face masks, and hockey players
didn't wear helmets."
Safety always comes into play in pole vaulting, Strand said. All pole
vaulters know the risk they're taking, but that doesn't keep any of
them away from the event.
"The risk involved, I guess I hate to say it, was part of what drew me to the sport," she said.
Although Strand hasn't vaulted since Dare's death, she said she expects
to keep her usual, injury-free thoughts before vaulting in the future.
With the risk of injury involved with every vault, the sport certainly takes a unique type of athlete, Wieczorek said.
"I don't know if 'weird' is the right word, but they are different --
and probably proud of it," Wieczorek said. "They are a daredevil group.
There's a great deal of camaraderie among them."
Wieczorek said vaulters are many times the best all-around athletes at meets, and they're also some of the smartest, too.
"It's more than a calculated risk; they're not being foolish in what they're doing," he said.
"They're not just going to do something they're going to get hurt at."
(C) 2002 The Daily Iowan via U-WIRE
