From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Javier Sotomayor Sanabria (born October 13,
1967 in Limonar,
Matanzas
Province) is a Cuban
former athlete
who specialized in the high
jump. He is 1.95 metres (6 ft 5 in)
tall.[1] He is
widely regarded as the best high jumper of all time.
Sotomayor set the junior world record in 1984 by clearing 2.33
metres in Havana, but was not able to go to the 1984
Olympics due to the Cuban boycott. In 1985 he took silver in
the World Indoor Championships with a best jump of 2.30 metres, and
won his first title in 1987, at the Pan American Games. The
following year at Salamanca he set a world record of 2.43
metres, but was denied the chance to compete at the 1988
Olympics due to another Cuban boycott.[2]
He twice increased the world record, to 2.44 metres
(8 ft 0.06 in) on July 29, 1989 in San
Juan and to the current record of 2.45 metres
(8 ft 0.46 in) on July 23, 1993 in Salamanca. Sotomayor also set the current
world indoor record of 2.43 metres
(7 ft 11.67 in) on March 4, 1989 in Budapest.[3]
When he was finally able to compete in the Olympics he won the
gold medal at the 1992
Olympics and the silver medal at the 2000
Olympics (after the reversal of a drug suspension for drug usage). Between the games he won
the 1993 and 1997 World
Championship.
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 2.44 m (8 ft). 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. It was only equaled by Vyacheslav
Voronin in London in
August 2000, Stefan
Holm in Madrid in 2005 and
Ivan Ukhov in Pireas in
April 2009.
Doping
Scandals
Sotomayor was tested positively for cocaine use at the 1999 Pan American Games, which
Fidel Castro
claimed was a set up by the Cuban-American Mafia,[4] and
where Sotomayor claimed his innocence. IAAF followed up the
suspension of Sotomayor by shortening it to still let him compete
in the 2000 Summer Olympics in a
controversial decision. IAAF's motivation for this action was that
Sotomayor had done so much for the sport and acted exemplarily
during his career.[5]
In September
2001, Sotomayor announced that he would end his career,
following yet another positive drug test made during a training
camp earlier in June,
this time for the anabolic steroid nandrolone.[6]
He avoided a lifetime ban that would normally follow a second
positive test by leaving the sport. This second test disqualified
his fourth position in his last World Championship. Once again,
Sotomayor claimed he was innocent and this time claimed mistakes
had been made during the handling of his doping test.[6]
These allegations never gained strong support in his home
country Cuba,[6]
although former IAAF Vice President and Doping Commission Chairman
Arne
Ljungqvist[7]
subsequently claimed these were both "crystal clear cases" in a
Swedish interview.[8]
References
See also
External
links
|
Central American and Caribbean Games Champions in
Men's High Jump |
|
1926: Alfonso Stoopen (MEX) •
1930: Rafael Pérez (CUB) •
1935: Juan Luyanda (PUR) •
1938: Juan Luyanda (PUR) •
1946: Miguel Clovis (PAN) •
1950: Gilberto Torres (PUR) •
1954: Roberto López (CUB) •
1959: Teodoro Palacios (GUA) •
1962: Teodoro Palacios (GUA) •
1966: Teodoro Palacios (GUA) •
1970: Miguel Durañona (CUB) •
1974: Richard Spencer (CUB) •
1978: Richard Spencer (CUB) •
1982: Francisco Centelles
(CUB) • 1986: Francisco Centelles
(CUB) • 1990: Javier
Sotomayor (CUB) • 1993: Javier Sotomayor (CUB) •
1998: Javier Sotomayor
(CUB) • 2002: Gerardo
Martínez (MEX) • 2006: Gilmar Mayo (COL)
|
|
Cuba
Patrik
Sjöberg
Sorin
Matei
Charles
Austin
Steve
Smith
Vyacheslav
Voronin
Wikis
Quiz
Map
Search
