Yuri Nikolaevich Stepanov (russian: Юрий Николаевич Степанов; 30 August 1932 – 13 September 1963) was a Soviet

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

athlete who specialized in the high jump and

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a ...

. On 13 July 1957 he set a new world record in the high jump at , breaking a 44-year-long dominance of American athletes in this event. In the high jump, Stepanov won the Soviet title in 1954 and 1958 and finished second in 1953 and 1957. Stepanov started training in the high jump in 1950, aged 17, and by 1954 had a personal best at 1.98 m. In parallel, he competed in the long jump, and in 1956 won a national competition with a decent result of 7.43 m. He was selected for the 1956 Olympics, but was replaced due to a leg injury. He was the gold medallist at both the

1957 World University Games 1957 World University Games were held between 31 August and 8 September. They were organised under the direction of Jean Petitjean by the Paris Université Club, Paris University Club in Paris at their Stade Sébastien Charléty, Stadium Charlety. ...

and the

World Festival of Youth and Students The World Festival of Youth and Students is an international event organized by the World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY) and the International Union of Students after 1947. History The festival has been held regularly since 1947 as an eve ...

. He twice competed at the

European Athletics Championships The European Athletics Championships is a biennial (from 2010) athletics event organised by the European Athletics Association and is recognised as the elite continental outdoor athletics championships for Europe. Editions First held, for men ...

, finishing fifth in 1954 and sixth in

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

.European Athletics Championships Zürich 2014 - STATISTICS HANDBOOK
pp. 384-390.

European Athletics Association The European Athletic Association (more commonly known as European Athletics) is the governing body for athletics in Europe. It is one of the six Area Associations of the world's athletics governing body World Athletics. European Athletics has 51 ...

. Retrieved on 2014-11-08. In 1957 he set a world record at a Leningrad-Helsinki athletic meet. A close-up photograph taken during the event showed that Stepanov used shoes with thick porous soles that acted as a trampoline. While not forbidden by the rules, the use of such shoes was criticized by the foreign media, but was countered by the Soviets that the thick sole was added merely to reduce the risk of injury. After this event, the thickness of the sole was limited to 12 mm by the IAAF. As a result of excessive media attention to the validity of his results, around 1959 Stepanov developed a depression that resulted in his hospitalization in 1959, alcoholism, divorce in 1961 and suicide in 1963.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stepanov, Yuri 1932 births 1963 deaths Soviet male high jumpers Soviet male long jumpers World record setters in athletics (track and field)

See also

References