Dan in La Crosse

Chinese Athletics

What has three mattresses and four metal poles? No, not a bedroom set, but Chinese pole vault. Adding to the insanity of the woman tossing a javelin around the campus "playground," today brought a collection of guys flying high over a rusty bar and landing on the mattresses. I think of American pole vault, where every LeRoy-Ostrander High and St. Pius X Junior High requires helmets, oversize foam mats, and total supervision all the time. Every precaution is taken and then some, and more accidents happen, I'll bet, than in the Chinese version. Somehow, these people know how not to die.