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Hysong flies high for Olympic pole vault gold
= = SYDNEY, Sept 29 (AFP) - Nick Hysong took the Olympic pole vault gold medal here on Friday night, the first American to win the event at the Games since Bob Seagren in Mexico City in 1968. On a great night for American vaulting, 29-year-old Hysong was the only vaulter to produce a career best - 5.90 metres - which was enough to give him the victory on countback from his team mate Lawrence Johnson, thanks to his first-time clearance. The bronze medal went to Russia's 1992 champion, Maksim Tarasov, who needed three attempts to clear 5.90 metres. The competition was raucously supported by the capacity crowd in Stadium Australia, most of them urging the two Russian-born Australians Dmitriy Markov and Viktor Chistiakov to emulate the success of Chistiakov's wife, Tatiana Grigorieva, who won the vault silver in the women's competition earlier in the week. But despite near misses and a daring one-off attempt for outright victory at 5.96 by Markov, neither Australian could match the high-flying Americans. The Australians finished joint fifth, behind the German, Michael Stolle, who despite clearing 5.90, missed out on a medal. With this year's world leader Jeff Hartwig sitting at home after having had a disaster at the United States Olympic Trials where he failed to clear a height the competition was wide open. It was seen as Tarasov's chance to regain his Olympic title. Yet his vaulting was unconvincing all night. Hysong, from Arizona, in contrast, gave a confident display. For Johnson - or "Lo Jo" - it was another medal to the tally of the impressive Los Angeles-based HSI management and training group, who also include track stars such as Maurice Greene and Ato Boldon.
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