The men's pole vault became an Olympic event in 1896.
It was included in the athletics programme at the first modern Olympic Games in Athens. Five athletes competed, and American William Hoyt won with a clearance of 3.30 meters. His teammate Albert Tyler took silver, while Evangelos Damaskos and Ioannis Theodoropoulos shared bronze for Greece.
The early competition looked very different from the modern event. The bar began at 2.40 meters and was raised in stages. Athletes used rigid wooden poles, and the contest had a single round. Modern vaulters use flexible fiberglass or carbon-fiber poles, plant them in a box, swing over the bar, and land on deep foam mats.
The men's event is one of only a small number of athletics competitions held at every Summer Olympics since 1896. The women's pole vault arrived much later, making its Olympic debut in 2000 at Sydney. That difference in debut dates often causes people to answer 2000 when the question specifically asks about the men's event.