Allison Stokke is a famous American pole vaulter who, despite being quite good at her sport, is more famous for her incredible good looks than her performance in the field. After a photograph of herself waiting for her turn was released online, she quickly became an internet heartthrob and a centre of media attention. Despite an incredible surge in popularity, Allison Stokke chose to not cash it in and become a full blown celebrity. She did take up some modelling assignments but eventually turned away from the public eye, choosing to live more privately. In this post, we will take a look at her incredible life so far. Let’s get started.

Allison Stokke: The Story So Far

When was Allison Stokke born?

Allison Rebecca Stokke was born on March 22nd, 1989. The beautiful brunette spent her early years in California with her parents, Allan and Cindy Stokke, and grew up with her older brother, David. 

How did Allison Stokke start off in the pole vault?

Allison Stokke during her highschool days

From an early age, Allison was surrounded by sports. Her brother was a talented gymnast who competed at the national level. Because of this, Allison was also pushed into the world of gymnastics, but she quickly realized that she did not enjoy the sport. So, she looked for a new activity that he enjoyed more. She also grew up to be too tall for gymnastics and like legendary pole vaulter Yelena Isinbaeva, she switched from gymnastics to pole vault as well. After searching for a sport of her own, Allison found the perfect one. As soon as she raised the pole, she felt something special. She knew that she had found her passion and that she had the ability to succeed in the world of that sport. The determined young woman wasted no time honing her discipline and soon became one of the youngest and most successful pole vaulters in the country. When she was just 15 years old, she won the United States title after clearing 3.8 meters. During her early years in high school, Allison Stokke was focused on becoming one of the best pole vaulters in history. Her hard work paid off as she began to break her own records.

Breaking her own records

In 2004, she set a new record when she jumped almost 4 meters upward. However, this was not enough for Allison and a year later, she again broke her record and jumped 4.11 meters.

Allison’s Last Year

In her senior year of school, Allison managed to juggle her studies and demanding training schedule. However, she knew it was all worth it as she was becoming recognized nationally and internationally. She topped the league tables and was an infallible competitor.

How did Allison Stokke become a celebrity?

In 2007, Allison Stokke was a part-time high school student who worked as a model and had already broken numerous sports records. However, her life changed forever when a photograph that was taken during a competition was released. This photo soon took over the internet and Allison became a viral sensation overnight. That same year, she broke her record once more and jumped an impressive 4.4 meters.

The Infamous Photo

Life was going incredibly well for the young sports star. However, it all took an unexpected turn in 2007, when she was photographed at a pole vault event. The 17-year-old was patiently waiting her turn at a competition when an innocent bystander snapped her photo.

The photo that turned Allison Stokke into a viral sensation

The image was posted online and landed on a blog called “With Leather,” which publishes photos of young women for an exclusively male clientele. This photo would soon change her life forever.

An Internet Sensation

The blog in question had a rather dubious reputation and posted this photo with a sordid and degrading caption, which had nothing to do with Stokke’s sport or her incredible talent. This image was having a disastrous effect on the young woman’s life as she was becoming a viral sensation on multiple platforms for the wrong reasons. After seeing the effect it was having on the young sports star, the original photographer reached out to the website and threatened to sue them if they didn’t remove the photograph, but it was too late. The internet was flooded with that photo.

Allison Stokke goes viral

A teenage Stokke became the “virtual crush” of thousands of people

When the image hit the internet, many Allison Stokke fan clubs and websites made their way into the public domain. These websites posted more and more pictures of her. She generated a huge male fan following online as a result with many people calling her their virtual crush. These websites soon went haywire and Stokke found herself caught in the middle of this media storm.

Soon enough, Allison Stokke had a huge number of fans internationally. As her name continued to dominate websites, the news reached news stations and newspapers, including “The Washington Post” and “The New York Times.” News reports about her photography aired in Germany, the UK, and even Australia, where her story was featured on a popular talk show.

How did Allison Stokke react to the unbridled fame?

Allison Stokke became extremely popular for her beautiful appearance and a spectacular physique

Allison Stokke was disturbed by the situation. The young athlete had spent years honing her craft to be seen as a competent and talented athlete. However, she was famous for a photograph that had turned her into little more than eye candy. After a while, she tried to take control of the situation, but the power of the media was too great. In fact, Allison had to hire an assistant to take care of all the emails and phone calls she was receiving. But on top of that, she also had to deal with the much darker side of fame: stalkers.

After a while, Stokke knew she had to do something to divert attention from her photos and her appearance, so she arranged an interview with a major media outlet. In this, she gave advice to female athletes on how to perfect pole vault techniques and the video was uploaded to YouTube. However, this did not have the desired effect. Rather than comment on her talent, most people just kept fawning over her spectacular looks.

How did Allison Stokke get help with the situation?

Fortunately, Allison Stokke didn’t have to look far for help with her situation. Allan Stokke, her father, was a lawyer and set out to help his daughter to keep her out of harm’s way and unwanted attention. He spent hours checking YouTube comments and website comments to see if any of them were illegal or inappropriate.

Photos of Allison Stokke in the middle of competing became viral

This way, he could see if someone was trying to harass his daughter. Although he was able to eliminate any immediate danger, he was unable to restore the damaging effect the situation had had on Allison.

What did Allison Stokke gain from her stardom?

Despite the awkward and terrifying situation Allison had to deal with, she tried to find positive things in the difficult time she was going through. As her photos continued to go viral, “CBS” decided to use what happened to her as a warning to young women and athletes around the world.

Allison Stokke’s incredible looks attracted a lot of attention

In their educational news segment, they made people realize how easy it was to make these vulnerable young women public figures without their consent. They wanted to highlight the negative effects and dangers associated with social media and the internet.

Did Allison Stokke’s mental health suffer?

Unfortunately, all attempts to smooth things over had been too small, too late, as Allison Stokke had been permanently scarred by events. She reported that she was afraid to attend pole vault competitions, as there was always a band of fans who wanted to get close to her.

She also commented that the situation had affected her mental health and that she did not feel safe unless she had closed all the doors. By 2010, a quick Internet search for Allison Stokke’s name produced more than 1 million results.

Where did Allison Stokke go to college?

Allison Stokke competing for the University of California, Berkeley

After a stressful few years, she was happy to get out of the spotlight for a while, and welcomed a new life at college. The amazing jumper managed to get a full athletic scholarship to study in California and stay close to home, family and friends, as well as continuing her pole vault career with the ‘Golden Bears’. During this time, Allison kept a low profile and rarely appeared on social media.

College career

While stepping away from the press and social media, Allison Stokke was able to hold her head up and focus on what was important to her, her studies and her sports career. Surprisingly, Allison managed to excel at both.

By the end of her college career, she had earned a master’s degree in sociology and had set new records in the world of athletics. In fact, she had jumped higher than before and was regularly in the top 10 in every competition.

Did Allison Stokke compete in the Olympics?

Any athlete will say that their dream is to make it to the Olympics and Allison Stokke was no different. After graduating from college, she tried harder and harder to achieve it. The young athlete maintained a strict training regimen, which resulted in a new personal record. She cleared 4.35 meters.

Allison Stokke came up just short during the London Olympics qualifiers

As 2012 drew closer, Allison had her sights set on the London Olympics. Allison trained like never before for her Olympic dreams, but sadly, her hard work ended in disappointment. During the qualifying event, Stokke narrowly missed the opportunity to represent the United States at London 2012. Like twelve other contestants, the athlete could not reach the height required to qualify for the Games. Although she had exceeded 4 meters, the pressure of the competition proved to be too much. Her Olympic dreams were over and she wasn’t going to be able to represent the USA in the 2012 London Olympics.

Allison Stokke: Modelling Career

Allison Stokke’s good looks landed her a lot of modelling opportunities

In 2015, Allison Stokke decided to hang up her pole for a while and try something different. The athlete decided to finally respond to the many pleas of the main sports brands and accepted their offers to model their clothes. That same year, she appeared in the spring-summer collection of “Nike” and even worked for the main sportswear brand, “Athleta”. Then Allison was offered another opportunity that she just couldn’t turn down and became a “GoPro” ambassador. In this way, we had the opportunity to see her pole vault like never before.

In 2016, Allison Stokke proved her talent in modeling as she participated in the new “Uniqlo” fitness line. Unfortunately, Allison hasn’t been part of a modeling campaign since this collaboration, but we think it’s only a matter of time before her talent is shown once again.

Who is Allison Stokke married to?

Allison Stokke and Rickie Fowler on their wedding day

Towards the end of 2016, Allison Stokke made headlines once again, as rumors spread that she had a new boyfriend. Allison and Rickie Fowler were said to be more than friends, as the two were spotted together at a Motocross Grand Prix.

The rumors escalated even more when the two posted photos together on their Instagram accounts. However, this was not enough for the internet, which wanted more proof that the couple were really dating. So who was Allison Stokke’s apparent love interest? It seems that Allison likes sports stars, as Rickie Fowler is a 28-year-old professional golfer. Although Fowler has yet to make an international name for himself, his talent led him all the way to the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, as well as the famous US Open.

However, it seems that Allison and Rickie have something in common, as both young sports stars have viral photos attached to their names. In 2016, Fowler was part of the incredible American golf team that had won the Ryder Cup, after losing 8 years in a row. As the team celebrated, he was left alone with no one to kiss him. So, he decided to poke fun at the situation and shrugged, a pose that took the internet by storm.

In October 2019, Allison Stokke’s life changed forever. She said yes at her wedding to Rickie Fowler and became his wife. The photos that she released from the ceremony, which took place on a beach, are truly beautiful and show the great love that athletes have for each other. In turn, their honeymoon was sponsored by the sportswear brand, “Puma”, which paid for the trip. 

What is Allison Stokke doing today?

It’s wonderful to see how far Alison has come and to see her at such a great time in her life today. The drama in the photo could have derailed his career entirely. She suffered a great deal of mental stress and was very lucky not to have seen her performance in sport affected by the situation.

Luckily, the young woman managed to overcome it and is now a much stronger person. Anyone who sees her today would not believe that she is the same person who suffered from getting unwanted attention.

Although the failure to qualify for the Olympics left Alison devastated, the young woman did not stop working hard at the sport. After that big disappointment in 2012, Alison focused on national competition and began training in Phoenix. Her goal was to make the Olympics, especially after coming so close to qualifying in London. Sadly, after other disappointment, Allison Stokke stopped competing nationally in 2017.

Allison Stokke: Impact on Pole Vault

Allison Stokke’s incredible impact on Pole Vault’s popularity has been undeniable

Even though Allison Stokke never really achieved much success in Pole vault at the international level, her incredible popularity helped make pole vault more popular across the globe as well. Before Allison Stokke’s photo took the internet by storm, pole vault athletes weren’t particularly well known around the world. Yes, people knew about Yelena Isinbaeva and Sergei Bubka but it was still a sport with a limited fan base, something which expanded exponentially because of Allison Stokke. So much so that pole vault compilation videos have millions of views on YouTube today and usually feature a lot of “men of culture” comments.