Athletics at the 1980 Summer Olympics – Men's high jump
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The men's high jump event at the
1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (russian: Летние Олимпийские игры 1980, Letniye Olimpiyskiye igry 1980), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad (russian: Игры XXII Олимпиады, Igry XXII Olimpiady) and commo ...
in
Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
,
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
had an entry list of 30 competitors from 19 nations. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The final was held on Friday 1 August 1980. The event was won by
Gerd Wessig Gerd Wessig (, ; born 16 July 1959 in Lübz, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern) was an East German high jumper who won the gold medal in the 1980 Summer Olympics, the first man ever to set a world record in the high jump at the Olympics. Early li ...
of East Germany, the first gold medal by a German athlete in the men's high jump. It was also the first time a world record in the high jump had been set at the Olympics.
Jörg Freimuth Jörg Freimuth (born 10 September 1961 in Rathenow, Bezirk Potsdam) is a retired East German high jumper. He won the bronze medal for East Germany in the 1980 Summer Olympics held in Moscow, Soviet Union with a jump of 2.31 metres. He retired ...
took bronze, making East Germany the third nation (after the United States and Soviet Union) to have two medalists in the event in the same Games. Defending champion Jacek Wszoła of Poland took silver, becoming the fourth man to win two high jump medals and matching Valeriy Brumel for best results at one gold and one silver. Through the 2016 Games, Wszoła, Brumel, and
Javier Sotomayor Javier Sotomayor Sanabria (; born October 13, 1967) is a Cuban retired track and field athlete, who specialized in the high jump and is the current world record holder. The 1992 Olympic champion, he was the dominant high jumper of the 1990s; hi ...
(who joined them at one gold and one silver in 2000) remain the most successful Olympic men's high jumpers; no high jumper has won two gold medals, or one gold and two silvers. Due at least in part to the American-led boycott, the United States' streak of making the podium in every Olympic men's high jump event to date (18 times before 1980) ended, though a strong field may have kept them out of the medals even if they had competed.


Background

This was the 19th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. The only returning finalist from the 1976 Games was gold medalist Jacek Wszoła of Poland. Four men had broken or tied the world record since the Montreal Games, but Wszoła was the only one in Moscow. American
Dwight Stones Dwight Edwin Stones (born December 6, 1953) is an American television commentator and a two-time Olympic bronze medalist and former three-time world record holder in the men's high jump. During his 16-year career, he won 19 national championshi ...
(2.32 metres just days after taking bronze in Montreal) was absent due to the American-led boycott.
Vladimir Yashchenko Vladimir Ilyich Yashchenko (russian: Владимир Ильич Ященко) or Volodymyr Yashchenko ( uk, Володимир Ященко) (12 January 1959 – 30 November 1999) was a Ukrainian member of the Soviet national team and former w ...
of the Soviet Union (2.33 metres in 1977, 2.34 metres in 1978) was injured. Wszoła had set the then-current record of 2.35 metres in 1980; Dietmar Mögenburg of West Germany had matched it the next day. Mögenburg was also absent due to the boycott. This left Wszoła as the "heavy favorite." Algeria, Senegal, and Syria each made their debut in the event. France appeared for the 16th time, most of any nation competing but behind the absent United States (18 appearances) and tied with the also-absent Sweden (16 appearances).


Competition format

The competition used the two-round format introduced in 1912. There were two distinct rounds of jumping with results cleared between rounds. Jumpers were eliminated if they had three consecutive failures, whether at a single height or between multiple heights if they attempted to advance before clearing a height. The qualifying round had the bar set at 2.05 metres, 2.10 metres, 2.15 metres, 2.18 metres, and 2.21 metres. All jumpers clearing 2.21 metres in the qualifying round advanced to the final. If fewer than 12 jumpers could achieve it, the top 12 (including ties) would advance to the final. The final had jumps at 2.10 metres, 2.15 metres, 2.18 metres, 2.21 metres, 2.24 metres, 2.27 metres, 2.29 metres, 2.31 metres, 2.33 metres, 2.36 metres, and 2.38 metres.Official Report, vol. 3, p. 53.


Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows. All three East Germans, as well as Jacek Wszoła, successfully jumped 2.27 metres to beat the Olympic record; the four men each cleared 2.29 metres as well. The medalists (
Gerd Wessig Gerd Wessig (, ; born 16 July 1959 in Lübz, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern) was an East German high jumper who won the gold medal in the 1980 Summer Olympics, the first man ever to set a world record in the high jump at the Olympics. Early li ...
, Wszoła, and
Jörg Freimuth Jörg Freimuth (born 10 September 1961 in Rathenow, Bezirk Potsdam) is a retired East German high jumper. He won the bronze medal for East Germany in the 1980 Summer Olympics held in Moscow, Soviet Union with a jump of 2.31 metres. He retired ...
) were the three men to clear 2.31. Only Wessig succeeded at 2.33 metres; he then went for a new world record at 2.36, clearing it in his second attempt. He could not extend his new record to 2.38 metres, however.


Schedule

All times are Moscow Time (
UTC+3 UTC+03:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +03:00. In areas using this time offset, the time is three hours later than the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Following the ISO 8601 standard, a time with this offset would be wri ...
)


Results


Qualifying

The qualifying round was held on Thursday July 31, 1980.


Final


See also

* 1976 Men's Olympic High Jump (Montreal) * 1978 Men's European Championships High Jump (Prague) * 1982 Men's European Championships High Jump (Athens) * 1983 Men's World Championships High Jump (Helsinki) * 1984 Men's Olympic High Jump (Los Angeles) * 1986 Men's European Championships High Jump (Stuttgart) * 1987 Men's World Championships High Jump (Rome)


References


External links


Results
{{DEFAULTSORT:Athletics at the 1980 Summer Olympics - Men's high jump H High jump at the Olympics Men's events at the 1980 Summer Olympics