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

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

former high jumper. 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 organization ...

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 and

Mutaz Essa Barshim Mutaz Essa Barshim ( ar, معتز عيسى برشم, Muʿtazz ʿĪsā Baršim; born 24 June 1991) is a Qatari track and field athlete who competes in the high jump and is the current Olympic Champion (2020). He is also the current World Champion ...

. He twice held the world indoor record holder with marks of 2.38 m (1985) and 2.41 m (1987). He was the 1987 World Champion and three-times an Olympic medallist.

Early life

Sjöberg was born in Gothenburg, 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. H ...

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, Linus Thörnblad,

Staffan Strand Staffan Bo Strand (born 18 April 1976 in Upplands Väsby) is a Swedish former high jumper. He currently lives in Norrmalm in Stockholm with his wife since 2004 Tiffany. Career His personal best jump is 2.32 metres, achieved in July 2000 in Nic ...

, and Stefan Holm. His world record of 2.42 m was broken 15 months later, when, on the eve of the Seoul Summer Olympics, Javier Sotomayor 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 sexual activities with a child (whet ...

, is co-founder of the website Dumpen.se. They chat with pedophiles and child groomers online posing as underage (under 15, the age of consent in Sweden) children. If the predator wants to meet the ”child”, Sjöberg and his associate Sara Nilsson travel to confront him, then post the chat logs and the video of their confrontation on the website.

Personal life

In his 2011 autobiography, Sjöberg revealed that he had been

sexually molested Sexual assault is an act in which one intentionally sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their will. It is a form of sexual violence, which ...

as a child by

Viljo Nousiainen Viljo Nousiainen (9 March 1944 – 11 June 1999) was a prominent Swedish Finn athletics coach. Career Nousiainen was born in Kiuruvesi. As an athletics coach, he specialized in training jumpers for Örgryte IS Sports Club in Gothenburg during t ...

, a prominent Swedish athletics coach. He has a daughter, Isabelle.

Competition record

¹Representing Europe
²No mark in the final

References

External links