Fred Hansen

Fred Hansen

Personal information
Full name	Frederick Morgan Hansen
Born	December 29, 1940 (age 75) Cuero, Texas, U.S.
Medal record Men's athletics Representing  United States Olympic Games 1964 Tokyo Pole vault

Frederick Morgan "Fred" Hansen (born December 29, 1940 in Cuero, Texas) is an American former athlete who competed mainly in the pole vault.

A 1963 graduate of Rice University, he competed for the United States in the 1964 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan in the pole vault where he won the gold medal.^[1] He held the world record in the Pole Vault for almost 2 years, first set as 5.23 m (17 ft 1 ³⁄₄ in) on June 13, 1964 and then improved to 5.28 m (17 ft 3 ³⁄₄ in) on July 25, 1964 at the USA vs USSR dual meet at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Video on YouTube @1:10

He currently is a practicing dentist in Houston, Texas, in the Memorial area of town.

1964 Olympics

Going in to the 1964 Olympics, the United States had never lost an Olympic pole vault competition. In the final, the last remaining American was Hansen, who at the time was also the world record holder. The field included two other previous world record holders and decathlete C. K. Yang. Hansen cleared 5 meters on his first attempt, but so did three German athletes. Hansen then passed the next height, watching as only Wolfgang Reinhardt was able to clear. Re-entering the competition at 5.10, Hansen failed his first two attempts, but so did Reinhardt. Hansen then sailed over his final attempt, while Reinhart could not. Hansen continued the American streak, which would survive through one more Olympics until the 1972 pole vault controversy, when defending champion Bob Seagren had his pole confiscated at the games and had to compete on an unfamiliar, borrowed pole.

References

1. "Athletics at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Games: Men's pole vault". Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2011-04-30.

External links

• "Fred Hansen". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC.
• Fred Hansen at Sporting Heroes