Track-and-field event of jumping for height. The equipment includes a semicircular runway allowing an approach run of at least 49 ft (15 m), the raised bar and its vertical supports, and a cushioned landing area. Jumpers must leave the ground from one foot. Three failed jumps at a height result in disqualification. Early jumping styles, including the near-erect scissors jump and the facedown Western roll-and-straddle, were largely superseded from 1968 by the faceup “Fosbury flop,” named for its leading proponent, the U.S. jumper Dick Fosbury.

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History

 id:Basis  value:red legend:World_record_women's_high_jump

 bar:Leaders width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:XS shift:(22,-4)

 from:1922 till:end color:Basis

 at:1922               text:Nancy Vorhees_1,46_m

 at:1926               text:Phyllis Green_1,55_m

 at:1929               text:Carolina Gisoll_1,60_m

 at:1932               text:Jean Shiley_1,65_m

 at:1939               text:Dorothy Adams_1,66_m

 at:1943               text:Fanny Blankers-Koen_1,71_m

 at:1956               text:Mildred Singleton_1,76_m

 at:1958               text:Iolanda Balas_1,80_m

 at:1960 shift:(22,-8) text:Iolanda_Balas_1,85_m

 at:1961 shift:(22,-7) text:Iolanda_Balas_1,90_m

 at:1961 shift:(22,0)  text:Iolanda_Balas_1,91_m

 at:1971               text:Ilona Gusenbauer_1,92_m

 at:1972               text:Jordanka Blagojewa_1,94_m

 at:1974               text:Rosemarie Ackermann_1,95_m

 at:1976 shift:(22,-8) text:Rosemarie_Ackermann_1,96_m

 at:1977 shift:(22,-8) text:Rosemarie_Ackermann_1,97_m

 at:1977 shift:(22,-1) text:Rosemarie_Ackermann_2,00_m

 at:1978 shift:(22,-2) text:Sara Simeoni_2,01_m

 at:1982 shift:(22,-6) text:Ulrike Meyfarth_2,02_m

 at:1983 shift:(22,-8) text:Ulrike_Meyfarth_2,03_m

 at:1983 shift:(22,-1) text:Tamara Bykowa_2,04_m

 at:1984 shift:(22,-5) text:Tamara_Bykowa_2,05_m

 at:1984 shift:(22,2)  text:Ludmilla Andonowa_2,07_m

 at:1986               text:Stefka Kostadinova_2,08_m

 at:1987               text:Stefka_Kostadinova_2,09_m

The high jump predated the Olympics in ancient Greece. The first recorded high jump event took place in Scotland in the 19th century. Early jumpers used either an elaborate straight-on approach or a scissors technique. In the latter, the bar was approached diagonally, and the jumper threw first the inside leg and then the other over the bar in a scissoring motion. Around the turn of the 20th century, techniques began to modernise, starting with the Irish-American M.F. Sweeney's Eastern cut-off. By taking off as if with the scissors, but extending his back and flattening out over the bar, the Sweeney achieved a more economic clearance and raised the world record to in 1895.

Another American, M.F. Horine, developed an even more efficient technique, the Western roll. In this style, the bar again is approached on a diagonal, but the inner leg is used for the take-off, while the outer leg is thrust up to lead the body sideways over the bar. Horine increased the world standard to in 1912. His technique predominated through the Berlin Olympics of 1936, in which the event was won by Cornelius Johnson at .

American and Russian jumpers held the playing field for the next four decades, and they pioneered the evolution of the straddle technique. Straddle jumpers took off as in the Western roll, but rotated their (belly-down) torso around the bar, obtaining the most economical clearance to date. Straddle-jumper Charles Dumas broke the elusive barrier in 1956, and American wunderkind John Thomas pushed the world mark to in 1960. Valeriy Brumel took over the event for the next four years. The elegant Soviet jumper radically sped up his approach run, took the record up to , and won the Olympic gold medal in 1964, before a motorcycle accident ended his career.

American coaches, including two-time NCAA champion Frank Costello of the University of Maryland, flocked to Russia to learn from Brumel and his coaches. However, it would be a solitary innovator at Oregon State University, Dick Fosbury, who would bring the high jump into the next century. Taking advantage of the raised, softer landing areas by then in use, Fosbury added a new twist to the outmoded Eastern Cut-off. He directed himself over the bar head and shoulders first, sliding over on his back and landing in a fashion which would likely have broken his neck in the old, sawdust landing pits. After he used this Fosbury flop to win the 1968 Olympic gold medal, the technique began to spread around the world, and soon floppers were dominating international high jump competitions. The last straddler to set a world record was the late Vladimir Yashchenko, who cleared in 1977 and then indoors in 1978.

Among renowned high jumpers following Fosbury's lead were: Americans Dwight Stones and his rival, tall Franklin Jacobs of Paterson, NJ, who cleared , an astounding over his head; Chinese record-setters Ni-chi Chin and Zhu Jianhua; Germans Gerd Wessig and Dietmar Mögenburg; Swedish Olympic medalist and world record holder Patrik Sjöberg; and female jumpers Iolanda Balaş of Romania, Ulrike Meyfarth of Germany and Italy's Sara Simeoni.

High jump shoes

Top performers

Men (outdoor)

Women (outdoor)

Men (indoor)

Women (indoor)

Best Year Performance

Men's Seasons Best (Outdoor)

Women's Seasons Best (Outdoor)

National records

Men

Women

See also

• List of Olympic medalists in athletics (women)
• List of Olympic medalists in athletics (men)
• World Record progression in athletics high jump men
• World Record progression high jump women
• National champions High Jump (women)
• National champions High Jump (men)

References

• The Complete Book of Track and Field, by Tom McNab
• The World Almanac and Book of Facts, 2000
• All-time list, men outdoor (IAAF)
• All-time list, women outdoor (IAAF)
• All-time list, men indoor (IAAF)
• All-time list, women indoor (IAAF)

External links

• High Jump Resource Center
• International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) – official site
• World Record progression in athletics
• World Masters Athletics - official site
• Masters T&F World Rankings
• Athletics all-time performances
• Lithuanian high-jumper website
• Vertical jumping forum / VERTMAN