Wolfgang Ritte lives in Moers, western Germany. But his heart was in San Diego when he heard about the Senior Olympics and a 100-year-old man’s efforts to clear 3 feet in the pole vault.
“Please submit Don Pellmann my warm congratulations to his great performances,” Ritte said Wednesday via email. “It is almost unbelievable that he is still capable of such performances in his old age. He gives many people courage and motivation for sports well into old.”
Better than his English are Ritte’s athletic credits. He was named World Masters Athlete of the Year in 2008 and holds four world age-group records in the pole vault.
Doug “Bubba” Sparks of Orange County, a masters champion vaulter who cleared 18 feet in his youth, put to rest any doubts about Pellmann’s vault cred, despite the Santa Clara man’s failure to clear a height Sunday at San Diego Mesa College.
“He’s a tremendous athlete that lets nothing stand in his way,” Sparks wrote. “In the vaulters’ world, vaulting at any level or at any time of life makes you part of the family for life.”
Pellmann set five world records Sunday in the rarefied 100-104 age group but couldn’t avoid dislodging a bar at .96 meters in his first event at 9:04 a.m.
He mourned the miss the rest of the meet.
“It’s a poor day because I should have got that pole vault [record], too,” he said.
Pole vaulters to Pellmann: We forgive you!
“With little technical changes, he could certainly improve even more in the pole vault,” said Ritte, who won his latest world title last month in Lyon, France, making 4 meters (13 feet 1 1/2) at age 62.
But he cautioned that the event is dangerous, “especially for a 100-year-old athlete. … Therefore I will give him the advice to work only combined with a good coach and with the greatest possible safety precautions.”
Pellmann doesn’t practice outside of meets, however. And the Senior Olympics was his first meet in two years.
Sparks, founder of a chain of physical therapy clinics, says Pellmann has the grasp of proper fundamentals.
“But as the late great Australian coach and author [Alan Launder] says, ‘That which is technically desirable must be physically possible.’ His mind lets him get the most out of his efforts,” Sparks said.
How high can Pellmann go?
A 2-meter jump (6-6 3/4) is the goal of any “elite” vaulter at his level, Sparks said. “Like surfing, the vault is fun no matter what level.”
Track and Field Hall of Famer Bud Held, a 1952 Olympian, thinks his friend could probably top 5 feet with a little practice, saying, “He definitely has the arm strength and the speed.”
“Don is actually a pretty good vaulter,” said Held, 87, who set world age-group pole-vault records for ages 75-79 and 80-84 of 3 meters and 2.75 (9-10 and 9-0 1/4). With his world-record holding partner Nadine O’Connor, he hosted Pellmann Saturday night at their Del Mar home.
“His big problem is that he doesn’t generate enough speed down the runway.”
That’s because he doesn’t have a pattern of steps before the takeoff, Held said.
“He doesn’t know where to plant his takeoff foot until he gets close to the pit and it feels about right,” he said. “He approaches with little tiny steps so his plant foot will always be pretty close to the right spot on the runway when he feels that is is the right time to plant it.”
All good vaulters need to run fast and have confidence that their takeoff foot is going to land in the right place, he said. But Pellmann hasn’t trained for the event in 10 years.
“He just comes to meets, borrows a pole and vaults,” Held said. “The last time he vaulted was five years ago at a meet at Stanford.”
- Related: Dash of History: 100-Year-Old Sets 5 World Records
- Earlier: San Diego May See First 100-Year-Old Pole Vaulter
In his 80s, Pellmann had a mattress in his back yard for a pit with no [plant] box and an old bamboo pole he got from a hardware store.
Pellman was using O’Connor’s 12-foot-long Spirit pole, intended for someone weighing 140 pounds. He weighs 175, but didn’t hold near the top and make it bend. He held a little over halfway up. O’Connor used the same pole in setting several age-group world records, including her best of 3.19 meters (10-5 1/2) at age 67 in 2009.
His opening height was actually 3-1 3/4, which Held said was set as low at officials thought legal — just above the height of the foam pit.
Sparks, who won a 2009 World Masters Games title in Sydney, Australia, can think of only one person who might join Pellmann as a centenarian vaulter.
“Grandpa [William] Bell for sure,” he said of the current record holder in the 90-94 group — and father of three-time Olympian Earl Bell. “Other than that, I can’t say. I would love to think I can, but the odds are highly against me being alive — much less vaulting.”
Sparks, 62, stresses that Pellmann is considered one of the fraternity despite three failures at his opening height Sunday.
“Don’s a true superstar and not just because he’s old,” Sparks said. “Many of our first great decathletes were also world-class vaulters. Don is the total athlete with the total package. He’s not competing because he’s the only one. He wishes there were more competitors, not to beat them but to share the joy of camaraderie.
“He’s competing because he lives the challenge. And for that, man do I love Don Pellman!”
