Death of Cornelius
Warmerdam Great Pioneer of the Pole
Vault - President Diack: “Only Bubka was
as Great”
IAAF Release
16 November
2001
– MONTE CARLO – Monaco - Cornelius « Dutch »
Warmerdam died Thursday in Fresno (California)
at the age of 86. He had been fighting
Alzheimer’s
disease for some years
according to the release sent by USAT&F.
Cornelius Warmerdam, who took the world record in the pole vault from the 4.54 metres set by his compatriots Bill Sefton and Earle Meadows to 4.77m in 1942 and, in indoor competition, from Meadows’ mark of 4.45m in 1941 to 4.79 metres in 1943, was one of the greatest pole vaulters of all time. He was without doubt the man who marked the era in which just only bamboo poles were used for the pole vault.
“I believe that in the history of the pole vault, the importance of Cornelius Warmerdam can be compared with only one other extraordinary athletes, Sergey Bubka,” commented IAAF President Lamine Diack on learning of the death of Warmerdam.
“ The fact that Cornelius’ record stood for 15 years, before being beaten by Bob Gutowski, and still more significantly the fact that it took a change to aluminium poles from bamboo, just goes to show how far ahead of his times Warmerdam was. Unfortunately, those were also years of conflict and the war prevented Warmerdam from ever winning an Olympic medal. Every enthusiast of athletics knows of the exploits of Warmerdam. It took real courage to go so high in those days before the introduction of landing mats, when just a sand pit awaited the athlete’s return to the ground.”
“The world of athletics ‘ – concluded President Diack – “honours the memory of Cornelius Warmerdam, a man who rendered great services to our sport, not only through his talents as a champion, but through many years of commitment as a coach training generations of youngsters and imparting his own great love of athletics.”
