Zhu Jianhua (; born 29 May 1963) is a retired

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

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. His personal best of 2.39 metres is a former

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 ...

for the event, and is still the Chinese record. In Helsinki 1983, Zhu became China's first man to win a

medal A medal or medallion is a small portable artistic object, a thin disc, normally of metal, carrying a design, usually on both sides. They typically have a commemorative purpose of some kind, and many are presented as awards. They may be int ...

in the IAAF World Championships. In the

1984 Los Angeles Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the secon ...

, he became the first male from the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

to win an athletics medal in the history of the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

(

Yang Chuan-kwang Yang Chuan-kwang, or C.K. Yang ( Amis: Maysang Kalimud, ) (July 10, 1933 – January 27, 2007), was an Olympic decathlete from Taiwan. Yang attended college at UCLA where he trained and competed with team mate and Olympian Rafer Johnson and w ...

won a

silver medal A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc ...

representing the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...

in the 1960 Rome Olympics). He is a two-time

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

list at both the

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation (AGF) from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until t ...

and the

Asian Athletics Championships The Asian Athletics Championships is an event organized by the Asian Athletics Association. History The competition courted controversy with the IAAF when political in-fighting arose after Israel was excluded from participation in 1977. That e ...

Career

Dominating Asian high jumping in the early 1980s, Zhu won the Asian Championships in 1981, crushing the championship record by 15 centimetres. He repeated this at the 1982 Asian Games with a jump of 2.33 m, beating the previous games record by 12 cm. He retained his title in the 1986 Asian Games. At the inaugural

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

in 1983 and the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the secon ...

he competed against the world elite, finishing third on both occasions. Zhu's Olympic performance brought anger as well as pride back home in China – those disappointed he had not won gold, smashed the windows of his home. On June 11, 1983, Zhu jumped 2.37 m, setting a new world record. He would go on to reach 2.38 and even 2.39 m, the latter on June 10, 1984. Prior to the 1984 Olympics Zhu cleared eight feet in practice, becoming unofficially the first man to clear this height. The world record stood until August 11, 1985, when

Rudolf Povarnitsyn Rudolf Pavlovich Povarnitsyn (russian: Рудольф Павлович Поварницын; born June 13, 1962 in Votkinsk, Udmurtia) is a retired athlete, who represented USSR and later Ukraine. Career Competing in the high jump, his great ...

beat it by one centimetre. His 2.39 m jump in 1984 was the oldest Asian record among all Olympic events in athletics and lasted until 2013, when

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 Champio ...

from

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

jumped 2.40 m. Zhu's indoor best of 2.31 m stood as the Chinese indoor record from 1986 until 2012, when Zhang Guowei jumped a centimetre higher.Jalava, Mirko (2013-03-07)
Dong Bin leads the way as indoor records tumble in Nanjing
IAAF. Retrieved on 2018-03-27.

Achievements

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zhu, Jianhua 1963 births Living people Chinese male high jumpers Athletes from Shanghai World record setters in athletics (track and field) Olympic athletes of China Athletes (track and field) at the 1984 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1988 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for China Asian Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 1982 Asian Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1986 Asian Games World Athletics Championships medalists Medalists at the 1984 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Asian Games gold medalists for China Medalists at the 1982 Asian Games Medalists at the 1986 Asian Games Universiade silver medalists for China Medalists at the 1981 Summer Universiade 20th-century Chinese people

Career

Achievements

See also

References

External links