Allison Rebecca Stokke Fowler, known simply as Allison Fowler, is an American track and field athlete as well as a fitness model. She was a remarkable teenage pole vaulting athlete in high school and broke many records. However, Allison Stokke’s photo at seventeen made her famous after it went viral on the internet.
The viral photos are not all there is to know about the athlete. Despite her internet fame, she continued to pursue her academic and sporting endeavours. We will go into details about Allison Stokke nude and the Allison Stokke famous photo later.
First, let us start by providing answers to some of the most important questions that people are asking about Allison Stokke.
Top 10 facts about Allison Stokke
- Allison Stokke was born on 22 March 1989 to Allan and Cindy Stokke in Newport Beach, California.
- She had wanted to become like her brother, David Stokke, who was a gymnast that competed up to the national level in youth competitions. She even did gymnastics as a child.
- Allison Stokke started pole vaulting at Newport Harbor High School in her early teens and she broke the American record for a high school freshman with a vault of 3.86 m (12 ft 7¾ in) in 2004 before setting a new high school sophomore record with 4.11 m (13 ft 5¾ in) in 2005.
- In her senior year of high school, Allison Stokke was ranked second in the national high school rankings with a new best of 4.14 m (13 ft 6¾ in) and she had the best vaults ever achieved by an American teen between the age of 15 and 16.
- After a journalist working for a Californian track and field website posted an Allison Stokke photo online in early 2007, With Leather, another blog reposted it with the title “Pole Vaulting is Sexy, Barely Legal”. This attracted the mostly male audience of the blog and made the photo go viral.
- The Allison Stokke photo became so popular that The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and The New York Times talked about it in the US. British broadcaster the BBC, Australian daily The Sydney Morning Herald, and the German weekly Der Spiegel also published articles on it. Additionally, there were millions of searches online for her.
- For over 13 years, there are still interests in Allison Stokke’s photo. As of 2021, search engines record about 247,000 searches concerning her every month worldwide.
- She came close to representing the US at the 2012 London Olympics but she did not do well at the 2012 United States Olympic Trials. Allison Stokke failed to clear the opening height of 4.25 m at the trials and she was dropped.
- In October 2019, Allison Stokke became the wife of American professional golfer Rickie Fowler after they dated for nearly two years.
- The athlete is also a model and has appeared in ad campaigns for Nike, Athleta (owned by Gap), GoPro and Japanese clothing brand Uniqlo.
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Allison Stokke – early life, childhood and parents
Allan and Cindy Stokke are the names of Allison Stokke’s parents. She was born in Newport Beach, California on 22 March 1989 and had early sport influences within her family. For example, Allison Stokke’s brother David was a gymnast and he competed up to the national level in youth competitions.
She herself started her sporting career from a young age. Allison initially went into gymnastics like her brother but eventually switched career paths. During her time at the Newport Harbor High School, Allison Stock started pole vaulting.
Allison Stokke: Education
Allison Stokke graduated from Newport Harbor High School, a public high school in Newport Beach in Orange County, California. The school is a part of Newport-Mesa Unified School District. It was there that Stokke honed her pole vaulting talent and first made a name for herself.
When she completed high school, she earned an athletic scholarship to study sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. She continued to focus on her studies despite actively competing at various sporting events.
Allison Stokke: Pole vaulting
High School pole vaulting records
Before long, Allison started to garner attention as one of the best young vaulters in the US. Allison Stokke won the 15/16 United States title in 2004 finishing with a championship record of 3.81 m (12 ft 6 in).
She also broke the American record for a high school freshman with a vault of 3.86 m (12 ft 7¾ in) in 2004. Not satisfied, she went on to set a new high school sophomore record with 4.11 m (13 ft 6¾ in) in 2005.
At the time, Allison Stokke had the best pole vault records ever achieved by an American teen between the ages of 15 and 16. Remarkably, she had suffered a bone-breaking injury in high school, yet she won the CIF California State Meet twice. This is the annual championship track and field meet for the California Interscholastic Federation.
Additionally, in her senior year of high school, Allison Stokke was ranked second in the national high school rankings with a new best of 4.14 m (13 ft 7 in). At the national junior championships in 2005, she came eighth.
College vaulting pole records
Following her early pole vaulting career start, Allison Stokke continued to pursue her sporting career. At the University of California, Berkeley, she joined the California Golden Bears collegiate track team. Just inside one year of competition, she broke the school record for a freshman athlete both indoors and outdoors with a vault of 4.11 m (13 ft 5¾ in).
She also competed in the Pac-10 Conference and Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) regional meets as well.
In her second year in college, Stokke did better and she came under the tutelage of Scott Slover, a former five-time All-American at UCLA. Allison scaled 4.21 m (13 ft 9¾ in). Then, at the Pac-10 Championship, she finished eighth and came seventh at the MPSF Indoor Championships.
The same year, she debuted at the NCAA Women’s Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships, ranking 19th with her best effort of 3.90 m (12 ft 9½ in). As a student-athlete, Stokke received conference all-academic honours at Pac-10 and MPSF level.
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In addition, she got an honourable academic mention by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.
Allison Stokke was far from the best at the sport in her last year in college. During her last year at the University, she came eighth at the Pac-10 Championships and failed to qualify for the NCAA Championships by two places at the regionals.
Her most notable achievement at the university was in 2011 when she came eighth at the NCAA Indoor Championships held at Texas A&M. Stokke cleared 4.10 m (13-05.25) on her first attempt, securing All-American status in the process.
After College pole vaulting records
Allison Stokke obtained her degree from the University of California in 2011 and continued to compete in pole vaulting events. She achieved a new lifetime best of 4.36 m (14 ft 3.375 in) in the 2012 season while gearing up for the 2012 London Olympics.
However, she did not do well at the 2012 United States Olympic Trials. Allison Stokke failed to clear the opening height of 4.25 m (13 ft 11¼ in) at the trials and she was dropped.
From then on, her performance nosedived. In 2013, she managed a best of 4.20 m (13 ft 9.375 in) in 2013 and 3.95 m (12 ft 11½ in) in 2014. In 2015, she improved with a best of 4.15 m (13 ft 7.375 in) at the National Pole Vault Summit where she finished third.
Stokke was placed eighth at the Vista OTC High Performance Meet with a height of 4.15 m and in 2017, she came third at the 2017 Austin Longhorn Invitational clearing a height of 4.27 m (14 ft 0.125 in).
Allison Stokke photo or Allison Stokke famous photo
If you are wondering why Allison Stokke is famous despite not being the best pole vaulter in the history of the sport, you have come to the right place. It has to do with a photo of hers that surfaced on the internet in 2007. A journalist working for a Californian track and field website had snapped an Allison Stokke photo while she was competing in New York in early 2007.
Not long after the Allison Stokke photo was posted online, a sports blog then known as With Leather reposted the photo for its fan base of mostly men with the title “Pole Vaulting is Sexy, Barely Legal”.
Uproxx (an entertainment and popular culture news website owned by Warner Music Group) later acquired With Leather. At the time of this famous photo, Allison Stokke was 17.
When the Allison Stokke photo started gaining internet fame, the original photographer threatened With Leather’s then-owner, Matt Ufford, with a lawsuit. However, it was already late, as many other websites had already posted it as well.
In fact, a group created a website strictly for Allison Stokke’s hot photos. The website contained photos of Allison Stokke competing at various pole vaulting events. At its height, there were millions of searches on the internet for such phrases as Allison Stokke nude, Allison Stokke hot, Allison Stokke photo, Allison Stokke famous photo, vault girls, and so on.
Within the US, reputable media houses published pieces on Allison Stokke. The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and the New York Times are among the famous media houses in the country that joined the bandwagon. Also, on the international scene, pole vaulting was becoming popular because of her.
British broadcaster the BBC, Australian daily The Sydney Morning Herald and the German weekly Der Spiegel also published articles on the Allison Stokke photo sensation.
There was also a CBS news story titled “Newport Athlete Not Relishing Newfound Fame” about Stokke’s reaction to the viral photos.
Many of the publications tried to highlight the dangers the internet poses to young people.
Allison Stokke photo: Reactions
Initially, the teenage Allison Stokke had tried to brave the barrage of internet interest that she was getting, which had nothing to do with her pole vaulting prowess. However, with the popularity of her photos online, she sought professional help.
According to news sources at the time, there were several emails and requests for Allison Stokke photoshoots. There is no information on which particular publicity team she consulted, but she did talk to a media consultant.
The first move was to try to distance herself from the internet interest. She gave an interview that is available on YouTube where she talked about pole vaulting techniques. However, the majority of comments were from internet trolls mentioning her ‘hot photo’, ‘vault girls’, and other things that had nothing to do with the video.
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Allison Stokke’s father – a lawyer – stated that he began monitoring material online to identify stalkers or any kind of miscreants. Yet, the unwanted attention kept coming. Without meaning to, Stokke became a sex symbol.
The athlete herself lamented that she found the whole attention creepy and even scary. She mentioned that when she was home, she took great care to lock the doors behind her. With years going by, the attention waned.
Yet, as of 2021, there are still about 247,000 searches about her every month worldwide. Some of the most common searches about her include ‘Allison Stokke nude’, ‘Allison Stokke photo’, ‘Allison Stokke famous photo’, ‘Allison Stokke hot’ and so on.
Allison Stokke was featured in Sportmanias “Top 20 Hottest Female Athletes”, Tiebreaker “30 Women Who Dominate Their Sport” and Thesportster “Top 25 Hottest Athletes Heading To The 2016 Rio Olympics”.
Vault girls
Some people search for ‘vault girls’, an adult movie category, in connection to Allison Stokke. This shows that much of the interest in her is still not related to her pole vaulting career.
So, what is the connection between these two search terms, ‘Allison Stokke’ and ‘Vault girls’?
It is likely a byproduct of the sexism that Allison Stokke endured as a beautiful young athlete. This was because the most popular searches for the term had nothing to do with pole vaulting.
Instead, a Google search for ‘Vault girls’ leads a user to some of the top adult sites in the world. If you are really looking for information about the sport, search for ‘Pole vaulting’ instead.
Allison Stokke: Model career
With her internet fame and the popularity of her photos, Allison Stokke had major sportswear model endorsement deals awaiting her signature. In 2015, she appeared in ad campaigns for Nike and Athleta (owned by Gap).
Additionally, Allison Stokke worked with GoPro in 2015, an American technology company. With GoPro, she recorded videos of her vaulting with cameras that are attached to her pole.
The videos proved informative to viewers helping them see the inner working of pole vaulting from a different perspective. It also helped sell the company’s camera. One of the YouTube videos has about 9.4 million views as of January 2021.
Uniqlo, a Japanese casual wear designer, manufacturer and retailer signed her in 2016 as well.
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Personal life
Besides pole vaulting, Allison Stokke is also interested in golf. It was through this pastime that she met American professional golfer Rickie Fowler in 2017. They began dating shortly after and announced their engagement in June 2018.
In October 2019, Allison Stokke became Rickie Fowler’s wife.
Allison Stokke as Rickie Fowler wife
Rickie Fowler is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. For 36 weeks between 2007 and 2008, he was ranked number one among amateur golfers in the world.
As Rickie Fowler’s wife, Allison Stokke has not given up her pole vaulting and modelling career. Her husband is a devout Christian and even when he goes on golf tours, he attends Bible studies.
Conclusion
Allison Stokke likely had lots of dreams as a teenage pole vaulter, which may have included representing the US in the Olympics. Many will argue that she was likely on the way to achieve this before the viral famous photo. No doubt, this caused some psychological deterrent.
Despite the challenge that unwanted internet fame gave her, she still did some great things with pole vaulting. Nevertheless, one will always wonder what could have been if the internet had not happened. As it were, we will never know.
Allison Stokke has started her own family as the wife of Rickie Fowler. We hope both of them continue to reach new heights in their careers.
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