撑杆最初是用紧密木材——可能是山胡桃树做成的，1896年雅典奥运会上，有人用竹子撑杆创造了10英尺6英寸的记录。1942到1957年间，尝试了铝质、钢质以及玻璃纤维的撑杆，最后以玻璃纤维的胜出而告终。

Pole Vault: Poles were originally made out of solid wood, probably hickory. At the 1896 Olympics in Athens, a bamboo pole was used to set the vaulting record of 10 feet 6 inches. Between 1942 and 1957, aluminum, steel, and fiberglass poles were tried. Fiberglass won out, increasing the indoor record height to 20 feet 2 inches in 1993.

1948年伦敦奥运会上木质的起跑架代替了脚趾槽。在古希腊，跑步选手以立姿起跑，如果起跑过早会遭鞭打。而现代金属起跑架内置了微型控制器，防止运动员起跑过早。

Sprint: Wooden starting blocks replaced toe grooves at the 1948 London games. In ancient Greece, runners took off from a standing position and were flogged if they started too soon. Modern metal starting blocks contain micro-controllers to prevent false starts.

1972年奥运会马拉松赛的美国预选赛中运动员穿的楔形后跟的跑鞋开创了现代跑鞋的新纪元。
Marathon: wedge-heeled Nike sneakers at 1972 US Olympic trials began the modern running-shoe ear.

公元前500年使用的细长的木质标枪中间缠有一层绳索，在投掷标枪时，运动员须抓住绳索的一端让标枪在空中自由旋转，这种旋转可以使标枪更稳。1908年奥运会上投掷最远的有50米，1976年增加到95米，1984年尤韦·洪在一次比赛中投出了104.80米的惊人成绩。国际业余田径联合会很快决定重新设计标枪，来限制其投掷距离。修改之后的标枪重心往前移动了4厘米，此时标枪能投掷的距离比修改前缩短了15米。

Javelin: The javelin was an event first enjoyed by the Mycenaeans at least 3000 year ago. The Greeks of 500 BC used thin wooden javelins with a cord wrapped around the centre of mass. When the javelin was thrown, the athlete would hold onto the end of the cord to make the javelin rotate freely through the air in much the same way that a toy gyroscope is made to rotate by pulling a string. The rotation stabilized the javelin by averaging any asymmetries in its construction about a central axis. At the London games in 1908 the winning throw was just over 50m. By 1976 this distance had increased to almost 95m and in non-Olympic event. The IAAF decided fairly quickly that the javelin had to be redesigned to underperform. According to Mont Hubbard of the University of California at Davis, the furthest distance a javelin could be thrown depended on how it was designed. When the rules were changed so that the centre of mass was moved 4cm forward, the total distance a javelin can travel is reduced 15m than they were before the rule change.


（Foreign and Domestic Olympic Stories)