At the time, the United States had never lost an Olympic pole vault competition.

In the final, the last remaining American was Fred Hansen, who at the time was also the world record holder.

Hansen cleared 5 meters on his first attempt, but so did three German athletes, making it a four-way tie.

[2] For only the second time in Olympic pole vault history (1932), no nations made their debut in the event.

The United States made its 15th appearance, the only nation to have competed at every Olympic men's pole vault to that point.

The qualifying height for the final was only 10 centimetres under the old Olympic record; the introduction of fibreglass poles had made marks set before 1961 trivial for top vaulters.