# Why do pole vaulting girls wear little bikini bottoms? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [May 31, 2012, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-pole-vaulting-girls-wear-little-bikini-bottoms/623630 "2012-05-31T05:30:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-pole-vaulting-girls-wear-little-bikini-bottoms/623630/1 "2012-05-31T05:30:54Z")
[Per this series](http://thechive.com/2010/08/16/pole-vaulting-my-new-favorite-sport-24-photos/) When did female pole vaulters start with the tiny bikini bottoms? ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-pole-vaulting-girls-wear-little-bikini-bottoms/623630/2 "2012-05-31T05:36:28Z")
I’m sorry, I lost my train of thought. I’ll get back to you in about 15 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-pole-vaulting-girls-wear-little-bikini-bottoms/623630/3 "2012-05-31T05:52:58Z")
What was the question again? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-pole-vaulting-girls-wear-little-bikini-bottoms/623630/4 "2012-05-31T05:53:28Z")
Because they have the kind of healthy athletic bodies that look good in them, and at the same time they don’t hurt and if anything help the womens’ athletic performance. ---
**Author:** ![Rhaegar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/51bf81/32.png) [@Rhaegar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhaegar)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-pole-vaulting-girls-wear-little-bikini-bottoms/623630/5 "2012-05-31T06:09:04Z")
I don’t know why they wear what they wear, but I just give thanks for Allison Stokke. [http://www.totalprosports.com/2009/11/17/allison-stokke-20-incredibly-hot-pole-vaulter-pics/](http://www.totalprosports.com/2009/11/17/allison-stokke-20-incredibly-hot-pole-vaulter-pics/) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-pole-vaulting-girls-wear-little-bikini-bottoms/623630/6 "2012-05-31T06:48:16Z")
I don’t know if this is the case in women’s pole vaulting but it’s actually set by rules in women’s beach volleyball. There’s actually a _maximum_ size limit on the uniforms they can wear while playing. I found this out when I read about a Chinese athlete who was penalized because her bottoms weren’t skimpy enough. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-pole-vaulting-girls-wear-little-bikini-bottoms/623630/7 "2012-05-31T08:29:39Z")
> [@astro](#): > > [Per this series](http://thechive.com/2010/08/16/pole-vaulting-my-new-favorite-sport-24-photos/) > > When did female pole vaulters start with the tiny bikini bottoms? I’m not entirely convinced that the page you linked to represents a thorough survey of the attire choices of all competitive female pole vaulters. To put it another way, when you read a blog entry under the categories “awesome”, “girls”, and “hot women”, you’re going to see the pole vaulters who wear bikini bottoms, whether all pole vaulters wear them or not. To the extent that some do, I would guess that they want something which allows good range of motion and that’s tight enough to not catch on the bar when they go over it. ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-pole-vaulting-girls-wear-little-bikini-bottoms/623630/8 "2012-05-31T09:30:06Z")
A great many women’s track and field athletes run in uniforms with bikini bottoms. I assume it’s got to do with temperature regulation, avoiding chafing, keeping the hetero male members of the audience attentive so as to help secure sponsorship money, etc. However, pole vaulters may develop muscles that lead folks like the author of the blog post to notice their thighs and buttocks more than, say, those of 5000 meter runners. I can pull more theories out of my rear end if you’d like. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-pole-vaulting-girls-wear-little-bikini-bottoms/623630/9 "2012-05-31T09:37:46Z")
> [@flodnak](#): > > A great many women’s track and field athletes run in uniforms with bikini bottoms. I assume it’s got to do with temperature regulation, **avoiding chafing** , keeping the hetero male members of the audience attentive so as to help secure sponsorship money, etc. > > However, pole vaulters may develop muscles that lead folks like the author of the blog post to notice their thighs and buttocks more than, say, those of 5000 meter runners. I can pull more theories out of my rear end if you’d like. In my experience, poor coverage makes that worse, not better. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-pole-vaulting-girls-wear-little-bikini-bottoms/623630/10 "2012-05-31T13:45:22Z")
Other than the fact that they have tushes to rival Pippa’s, it seems to me that you want something tight to your body so you don’t get wind resistance when running and jumping up, and you don’t want a flappy pair of shorts touching the bar and potentially make it wriggle off. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-pole-vaulting-girls-wear-little-bikini-bottoms/623630/11 "2012-05-31T13:55:42Z")
Can we get the Olympic Committee to write a rule encouraging the wearing of “little bikini bottoms”? This rule has boosted Olympic beach volleyball tremendously-why can’t swimming and diving adopt this very sensible rule?😃 ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-pole-vaulting-girls-wear-little-bikini-bottoms/623630/12 "2012-05-31T14:18:43Z")
“Little” bikini bottoms? Those things are huge. (The fabric, not the bottoms.) ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-pole-vaulting-girls-wear-little-bikini-bottoms/623630/13 "2012-05-31T14:20:17Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Can we get the Olympic Committee to write a rule encouraging the wearing of “little bikini bottoms”? > This rule has boosted Olympic beach volleyball tremendously-why can’t swimming and diving adopt this very sensible rule?😃 And how about tear-away tops for the women’s water polo? ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-pole-vaulting-girls-wear-little-bikini-bottoms/623630/14 "2012-05-31T14:27:35Z")
Clearly, I need to revaluate my policy of ignoring sports. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-pole-vaulting-girls-wear-little-bikini-bottoms/623630/15 "2012-05-31T14:31:37Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Other than the fact that they have tushes to rival Pippa’s, it seems to me that you want something tight to your body so you don’t get wind resistance when running and jumping up, and you don’t want a flappy pair of shorts touching the bar and potentially make it wriggle off. Except that the men mostly wear ordinary track shorts. The only shorts that could knock the bar off would be the oversize basketball shorts. No serious athlete wears those in competition. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-pole-vaulting-girls-wear-little-bikini-bottoms/623630/16 "2012-05-31T14:34:44Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I don’t know if this is the case in women’s pole vaulting but it’s actually set by rules in women’s beach volleyball. There’s actually a _maximum_ size limit on the uniforms they can wear while playing. I found this out when I read about a Chinese athlete who was penalized because her bottoms weren’t skimpy enough. Slight threadjack, but that’s bogus. I love the brief uniforms as much as anyone and more than most people, but the ladies are athletes, not Vivid models. If the woman wants to cover up a little, let her, IMHO. And, yes, I realize the PTB were probably just following the rules. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-pole-vaulting-girls-wear-little-bikini-bottoms/623630/17 "2012-05-31T14:34:50Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > No serious athlete wears those in competition. The NBA would like a word with you. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Il\_Palazzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Lord\_Il\_Palazzo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Il_Palazzo)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-pole-vaulting-girls-wear-little-bikini-bottoms/623630/18 "2012-05-31T14:57:09Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Why do pole vaulting girls wear little bikini bottoms? Because if they didn’t wear them, it would get pretty drafty. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-pole-vaulting-girls-wear-little-bikini-bottoms/623630/19 "2012-05-31T15:17:09Z")
We all need to make sacrifices… ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-pole-vaulting-girls-wear-little-bikini-bottoms/623630/20 "2012-05-31T19:52:56Z")
Also keep in mind that it’s a summer sport, so it’s more comfortable to wear less clothes. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-pole-vaulting-girls-wear-little-bikini-bottoms/623630.md?page=2)