Yet Another Thing I'll Never Try...

This dude just set the World Record for the pole vault at 6.22 meters. 

That's 20.4 feet for my Metric challenged readers. Astonishing.

 

All respect to this young man and his amazing accomplishment, my question is who was the mad fuck that was the first person to try doing this?

Think about this.  Some dude back in the mists of time saw a wall or fence or large critter he wanted to get past and instead of a ladder or a detour, he thought "I'll run at it, jam a long stick in the ground and lever myself over using a combination of speed, momentum, flex force and insanity."  I suspect there was fermentation involved at some point during the planning of the first ever pole vault.

These are the thoughts I think as I nap and gorge my way through middle age...