High Jump: the sport
The high jump is a field athletics event in which competitors must jump over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without the aid of any devices.
It is one of the longest-standing sports in the Olympic tradition, having been contested since the Games of ancient Greece. Over time competitors have introduced increasingly more effective techniques to arrive at the current form. Javier Sotomayor (Cuba) is both the indoor and outdoor world record holder in this event with jumps of 2.43 metres and 2.45 metres respectively. Sotomayor's record, set in 1993, is the longest standing in the history of the men's high jump. Stefka Kostadinova (Bulgaria) has held the women's world record 2.09 metres since 1987, again the longest-held record in the event.
