Javier Sotomayor
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| Olympic medal record | |||
| Men's Athletics | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Gold | 1992 Barcelona | High Jump | |
| Silver | 2000 Sydney | High Jump | |
Javier Sotomayor (born October 13, 1967) is a Cuban former athlete who specialized in the high jump. He is 1.94 meters tall.
He was the 1997 World Champion high jumper and current holder of the world record for the high jump. His personal-best heights were 2.45 meters (8 ft ½ in, world record) on July 23, 1993 in Salamanca, 2.44 metres on July 29, 1989 in San Juan, and 2.43 meters (world indoor record) on March 4, 1989 in Budapest. [1]
Additionally, he won the gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics and won the silver medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics after the reversal of a drug suspension for cocaine use.
Sotomayor has a rare dominance in the history of this event. Of the 24 all-time best high jumps, 17 are his; he has cleared 2.40 meters more times than any other athlete and is the only person to have cleared eight feet. The last time he cleared 2.40 meters was on March 25, 1995 at the Pan American Games in Mar del Plata, Argentina. No-one has jumped higher since.
| Olympic champions in men's high jump |
|---|
| 1896: Ellery Clark | 1900: Irving Baxter | 1904: Samuel Jones | 1906: Cornelius Leahy | 1908: Harry Porter | 1912: Alma Richards | 1920: Richmond Landon | Harold Osborn | 1928: Robert King | 1932: Duncan McNaughton | 1936: Cornelius Johnson | 1948: John Winter | 1952: Walter Davis | 1956: Charles Dumas | 1960: Robert Shavlakadze | 1964: Valeriy Brumel | 1968: Dick Fosbury | 1972: Jüri Tarmak | 1976: Jacek Wszoła | 1980: Gerd Wessig | 1984: Dietmar Mögenburg | 1988: Gennadiy Avdeyenko | 1992: Javier Sotomayor | 1996: Charles Austin | 2000: Sergey Klyugin | 2004: Stefan Holm |
| Preceded by: Patrik Sjöberg, 2.42m, 1987 |
High Jump World Record Holders Record Holder: |
Succeeded by: N/A |
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