Yelena Vladimirovna Slesarenko, née Sivushenko (russian: Елена Владимировна Слесаренко; born February 28, 1982 in Volgograd) is a Russian

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

er. Largely unknown before 2004, she kick started the season by clearing 2.04 metres and winning the World Indoor Championships. When the outdoor season started she won the SPAR European Cup with the same result, improving her personal best from 1.97 (achieved in 2002). She continued her good form at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

, winning the gold medal with a new national and personal record of 2.06 metres, beating the previous Olympic record, set by

Stefka Kostadinova Stefka Georgieva Kostadinova ( bg, Стефка Георгиева Костадинова; born March 25, 1965) is a Bulgarian retired athlete who competed in the high jump. Her world record of 2.09 metres has stood since 1987. She was the 1996 ...

in 1996. After clearing 2.06 she made decent attempts at 2.10, which would have been a

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

. She rounded off the season by winning the

World Athletics Final The IAAF World Athletics Final was an annual track and field competition organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). It was inaugurated in 2003 to replace the IAAF Grand Prix Final. The competition was part of the ...

. Injuries kept her away from most of the 2005 season, including the 2005 World Championships. Early in 2006, however, she won the World Indoor Championships with 2.02 metres. She finished fifth in the

2006 European Athletics Championships The 19th European Athletics Championships were held in Gothenburg, Sweden, between 7 August and 13 August 2006. The competition arena was the Ullevi Stadium and the official motto "Catch the Spirit". Gothenburg also hosted the 1995 World Champions ...

, failing to clear 2.00 m. At the

2008 Beijing Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

, Slesarenko finished fourth in the women's high jump with a jump of 2.01 meters, failing to clear 2.03 meters after three tries. However, in 2016 both she and her compatriot, bronze-medalist Anna Chicherova, were disqualified from this event after failing a retest of drug samples from Beijing. Slesarenko retired in 2014, but she was further disqualified for doping and her results cancelled. She is currently a director of a winter sports academy in Volgograd, her home city.

International competitions

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Slesarenko, Yelena 1982 births Living people Sportspeople from Volgograd Russian female high jumpers Olympic athletes of Russia Olympic gold medalists for Russia Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade bronze medalists for Russia Medalists at the 2003 Summer Universiade World Athletics Championships athletes for Russia World Athletics Indoor Championships winners Doping cases in athletics Russian sportspeople in doping cases

International competitions

See also

References