Jan Niklas Patrik Sjöberg (; born 5 January 1965) is a Swedish former

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. He broke the

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 organizatio ...

with in Stockholm on 30 June 1987. This mark is still the European record and ranks him third on the world all-time list behind

Javier Sotomayor Javier Sotomayor Sanabria (; born 13 October 1967) is a Cuban former track and field athlete who specialized in the high jump and is the current Men's high jump world record progression, world record holder. The 1992 Summer Olympics, 1992 Olymp ...

and

Mutaz Essa Barshim Mutaz Essa Barsham (; born 24 June 1991) is a Qatari track and field athlete who competes in the high jump and is the former Olympic Champion. He is also the former World Champion and second highest jumper of all-time with a personal best of 2.4 ...

. He is also a former two-time world indoor record holder with marks of 2.38 m (1985) and 2.41 m (1987). He is the 1987 World Champion and a three-time Olympic medallist.

Early life

Sjöberg was born in

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

, Västra Götaland, and was a member of the

Örgryte IS Örgryte Idrottssällskap, commonly referred to as Örgryte IS, Örgryte () or (especially locally) ÖIS or Öis, is a Swedish sports club based in Gothenburg. It consists of four departments, namely bowling, football, athletics and wrestling. ...

club.

Career

Sjöberg has a gold medal from the World Championships in Rome 1987 and has three Olympic medals: silver medals from Los Angeles 1984 and Barcelona 1992, and a bronze medal from Seoul 1988. Sjöberg is the only high jumper to have won medals in more than two Olympic Games. He won the 1985 World Indoor Games, is a four-time European Indoor champion and twice won the World Cup title. Sjöberg received the ''Svenska Dagbladet'' Gold Medal in 1985. He has inspired many later Swedish high jumpers, most notably

Kajsa Bergqvist Kajsa Margareta Bergqvist (; born 12 October 1976 in Sollentuna Municipality, Sollentuna, Stockholm) is a Swedes, Swedish former high jumper. She won one bronze medal in the Olympic Games, one gold and two bronze medals in the World Championshi ...

, Linus Thörnblad, Staffan Strand, and

Stefan Holm Stefan Christian Holm (born 25 May 1976) is a retired Swedish high jumper. He won an Olympic Games, Olympic gold medal, a silver medal, silver in the World Championships in Athletics, World Championships, and one silver and one bronze medal in ...

. His world record of 2.42 m was broken 15 months later, when, on the eve of the Seoul Summer Olympics,

jumped 2.43 m in September 1988 at a meet in Spain. Sjöberg competed as a celebrity dancer in '' Let's Dance 2014'', finishing fourth. Sjöberg, who is a survivor of

child sexual abuse Child sexual abuse (CSA), also called child molestation, is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include engaging in Human sexual activity, sexual activit ...

, is co-founder of the website Dumpen.se, a website that exposes pedophiles and discusses issues relating to child grooming and sexual abuse.

Personal life

In his 2011 autobiography, Sjöberg revealed that he had been sexually molested as a child by his coach Viljo Nousiainen, a prominent Swedish athletics coach. He has a daughter, Isabelle.

Competition record

¹Representing Europe
²No mark in the final

References

External links