. The event in these games was called "pole jumping". The Irish people also used the poles to clear water hazards, gullies, and bogs that were along the North Sea were they lived.
             The actual event of the pole vault did not begin until about the year 1800. The earliest competitions started in England and Germany. The Germans first practiced pole vaulting as a gymnasium sport for distance. Then about 50 years later the event took a new shape. The pole vault was now being competed for height instead of distance. This is when historians believe that the English, using a pole and vaulting for height, made the event into the idea of a contest.
             The first poles were long and heavy. They were usually made of ash
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