Explaining Mondo Duplantis' pole vault record at Paris Olympics in cricketing terms
Pole vault is one of the sports that only comes into prominence on a large scale during the Olympics. It certainly comes across as one of the most relaxing sports to watch in the event. There is just something casual about watching an athlete run, and use a pole to jump over the bar placed high. But it is anything but casual.
Nearly everyone has watched pole vault some or the other time in their life. Through a social media clip, while flipping through channels, or through some other means. A lot might have enjoyed it as well, but there is only a fraction who understand the rules, the science, and the happenings of the game. Although a majority do not follow every jump that happens, it does not diminish what Mondo Duplantis did by any means.
Simply put, Duplantis is a freak when it comes to the world of pole vault. He has shattered the world record a total of nine times since 2020, he has won the gold medal at consecutive Olympics, and get this, he is still just 24 years old. All of this has already led him to be considered the greatest pole vaulter of all time.
His most recent achievement came during the ongoing 2024 Paris Olympics, where he shattered his record again to jump over the 6.25m in his third attempt to bring home the gold.
“I haven’t processed how fantastic that moment was, It’s one of those things that don’t really feel real, such an out-of-body experience. It’s still hard to kind of land right now," Duplantis told reporters.
"What can I say? I just broke a world record at the Olympics, the biggest possible stage for a pole vaulter. [My] biggest dream since a kid was to break the world record at the Olympics, and I’ve been able to do that in front of the most ridiculous crowd I’ve ever competed in front of,” he added.
What made the occasion even more special was the jam-packed stadium chanting his name as he attempted to create history. Not everyone at the venue knew who he was, and not everyone knew what he had done in the past or what he was capable of, but watching his exploits was more than enough for them to lend their support.
Dominance and inevitability automatically connect Duplantis to the Australian cricket team of the old
Correlating Duplantis' achievement with a single cricketer is largely impossible primarily because of the individual vs team sport debate. It is also hard to find a cricketer who has won it all and has the biggest records to his name. No cricketer has or will be the greatest in the sport by the age of 24, it just does not work that way.
When you think of the best batters and bowlers in the game, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, and so on, all of them had shown they were great players well before 24, but none of them were undisputed at the top of the pile at that age. They were generational players, destined for success, but had to wait for a while before earning that tag.
This leads to the comparison to teams, and with Duplantis being the greatest pole vaulter and the most dominant athlete the sport has ever seen, it is only fair that he is compared to the most unforgiving team in cricket's history.
Duplantis' inevitably and the manner with which he streamed past the rest en route the gold medal can be relatable to cricket fans. The same aura of inevitability and dominance was witnessed in the cricketing world when Australia were ruthless in the late 90s and the early part of the millennium, winning three World Cups on the bounce. The fact that Duplantis wears yellow while representing Sweden also helps with the correlating and the imagination part of things.
To show that Duplantis was as dominant and ruthless as the famous Australian team, here is an example. The 24-year-old had already secured the gold medal with a 6.10m jump (the second best was a distant 5.95m). However, even the biggest prize in the world did not satisfy him as he wanted to break the world record to cover the cake with icing.
With the bar one cm over the existing world record, Duplantis completed the jump on his third attempt to seal a new world record. If that is not similar to Australia bashing Pakistan, India, and Sri Lanka's legendary sides by eight wickets, 125 runs, and 53 runs respectively to win a hat trick of World Cup titles, then what is?
Furthermore, Australia went unbeaten throughout the 2003 and the 2007 editions, and by the way Duplantis is progressing, it will be a monumental task for anyone to dethrone him.
Cricket and pole vaulting, are well, poles apart. There is nothing remotely close connecting the two sports, and cricket has a following that pole vaulting just cannot match. However, thankfully greatness does not see that, which makes feat across both sports equally commendable.