ULCC Vueling Airlines loses Olympic Pole Vaulter's Pole

Not an injustice many have to contend with, but one that Spanish pole-vaulter Didac Salas had to swallow this week when budget airline Vueling lost his pole in Amsterdam.


The 23 year-old registered a height of 5.5 metres at the European Athletics Championships in the Dutch city on Saturday, but needed another 10 centimetres to secure a place at the Games in Rio de Janeiro this summer.


A competition in Barcelona on Sunday was the last chance to qualify, but he arrived in Spain without his pole, and was then only able to leap 5.35 metres with a substitute pole, ending his Olympic quest.
“Vueling sent me the pole the day after. It is bad luck, I didn’t get the chance to try one last time,” Salas said.


“I was able to use a friend’s poles, but it isn’t the same because it is very personal and I didn’t feel comfortable.
“It’s a shame because I was feeling really good and confident beforehand.
“Maybe I will have the right to some compensation for the late arrival of luggage, but I lost my last chance to go to the Olympic Games and that is something you cannot compensate for.”


It is not the first time airlines and athletes have come to blows. In 2012, members of the Australian Olympic sailing team arrived in London for the Games without their sails after Qantas accidentally moved them to the cargo centre because they were so big.
In 2006, New Zealand Paralympian, Kate Horan, had her bid for a world title derailed when her prosthetic leg was lost at Heathrow Airport.
Earlier this year, Canadian tennis player Frank Dancevic was forced to play the Nottingham Open with newly bought and borrowed clothing and equipment after his bag stalled in Belgium due to a handlers’ strike.