Vaulting Pole Tips

After the crowds return home, and the fervor over the Olympics fade many pole vaulting athletes are left to face the question, what’s next? This is the question three time Olympic pole vaulter and Decathlete Dominic Johnson has to answer.

“I’ve been training (in the pole vault) for the Olympics ever since I left high school. I talked to a lot of the Olympians in China and many of them face the same questions that I face.”

After basically training in the area of pole vaulting and being an unpaid athlete for 15 years, Johnson must decide if he will continue pole vaulting or move on to other adventures.

Dominic Johnson has competed in three different Olympic Games representing his native country of Saint Lucian, where he holds the record for the best performance in both the decathlon and pole vaulting for the entire country. Born in Saint Lucia, but being raised in Arizona, Dominic Johnson holds duel citizenship, which allows him to compete for Saint Lucia during the Olympic Games.

A University of Arizona graduate with a degree in anthropology Johnson, now a husband and father of two, must face those challenging lifestyle and financial issues that play a part in his decision to continue competing in the area of pole vaulting, or not. In the past he has raced with success on the North American bobsled circuit, worked as a landscaper, got his real estate license and made a living buying and renovating Southern Arizona homes. Pole vaulting, however has always been his defining identity and Johnson is not sure he is willing to give that up. Clearing a height of 18 feet 10 inches, Dominic Johnson still believes clearing a 19 foot vault is still possible in his future, so he continues to train.

Dominic Johnson Pole Vaulting

“I’ve applied to the International Olympic Committee for a position in the Olympic Solidarity Program in Lausanne, Switzerland, which is basically helping younger athletes get scholarships,” said Johnson. “And I’m looking into the possibility of returning to St. Lucia to work in the ministry of sports, among other things.”

This transition for Olympic athletes to a life after sports is not an easy one to make. Dominic Johnson has defined his adventure in finding the perfect vault as “an incredible opportunity.”

Johnson explained, “I was flying into Kansas City a few months ago to work with my old UA coach, Tom Hays, and a woman in the seat next told me it was only the fifth time she had ever flown. That made me curious; so I wrote down all the places I had gone to pole vault and it came out at 28 countries. It’s pretty remarkable, isn’t it?” China has now become his 29^th country to add to that list.

Opportunities still present themselves to Dominic Johnson because of his pole vaulting fame. He has been in the presence of influential people ranging from the prime minister of his country to visiting with Queen Elizabeth II. In Saint Lucia an Olympic stamp was created commemorating pole vaulting itself, although everyone knows that the pole vaulting legend in Saint Lucia is the one and only Dominic Johnson.

“If we do decide to move to St. Lucia, I think my ties to the Olympics would lead to some incredible business opportunities,” Johnson confesses.”Our 1996 Olympic track team had three people. Two of them are now working as ministers within the St. Lucia government.”

Faced with the future, Johnson must simply decide if the call of 19 feet will make a difference in the path he chooses.

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