Olympics: high jump winning heights 1896-2024| ��ƽ��

Gold medal winning heights in the men's and women's high jump at the Summer Olympics from 1896 to 2024 (in meters)

Year	Men	Women
Paris 2024	2.36	2
Tokyo 2020	2.37	2.04
Rio 2016	2.38	1.97
London 2012*	-	2.05
Beijing 2008	2.36	2.05
Athens 2004	2.36	2.06
Sydney 2000	2.35	2.01
Atlanta 1996	2.39	2.05
Barcelona 1992	2.34	2.02
Seoul 1988	2.38	2.03
Los Angeles 1984	2.35	2.02
Moscow 1980	2.36	1.97
Montreal 1976	2.25	1.93
Munich 1972	2.23	1.92
Mexico City 1968	2.24	1.82
Tokyo 1964	2.18	1.9
Rome 1960	2.16	1.85
Melbourne 1956	2.12	1.76
Helsinki 1952	2.04	1.67
London 1948	1.98	1.68
Berlin 1936	2.03	1.6
Los Angeles 1932	1.97	1.65
Amsterdam 1928	1.94	1.6
Paris 1924	1.98	-
Antwerp 1920	1.8	-
Stockholm 1912	1.93	-
London 1908	1.9	-
St. Louis 1904	1.8	-
Paris 1900	1.9	-
Athens 1896	1.81	-

Download

Source

Show detailed source information?

Already a member?

Sources

Release date

2024

More information

Region

Worldwide

Survey time period

1896 to 2024

Supplementary notes

This data was collected using the official Olympic website, as well as a spreadsheet from the Guardian that includes data from 1896-2008 (), and data was compared with that from Encyclopaedia Britannica, and several news outlets were used to update the table when medals were reassigned (i.e. for doping offenses).

The winning athletes (male listed first) and their represented countries are as follows:
1896 - Ellery Clark (US)
1900 - Irving Baxter (US)
1904 - Samuel Jones (US)
1908 - Harry Porter (US)
1912 - Alma Richards (US)
1920 - Richmond Landon (US)
1924 - Harold Osborn (US)
1928 - Bob King (US) & Ethel Catherwood (Canada)
1932 - Duncan McNaughton (Canada) & Jean Shiley (US)
1936 - Cornelius Johnson (US) & Ibolya Csak (Hungary)
1948 - John Winter (Australia) & Alice Coachman (US)
1952 - Walt Davis (US) & Esther Brand (South Africa)
1956 - Charles Dumas (US) & Mildred McDaniel (US)
1960 - Robert Shavlakadze (Soviet Union) & Iolanda Balas (Romania)
1964 - Valeriy Brumel (Soviet Union) & Iolanda Balas (Romania)
1968 - Dick Fosbury (US) & Viorica Viscopoleanu (Romania)
1972 - Jüri Tarmak (Soviet Union) & Ulrike Meyfarth (West Germany)
1976 - Jacek Wszola (Poland) & Rosemarie Witschas-Acke
1980 - Gerd Wessig (East Germany) & Sara Simeoni (Italy)
1984 - Dietmar Mögenburg (West Germany) & Ulrike Meyfarth (West Germany)
1988 - Gennadi Avdeenko (Soviet Union) & Louise Ritter (US)
1992 - Javier Sotomayor (Cuba) & Heike Henkel (Germany)
1996 - Charles Austin (US) & Stefka Kostadinova (Bulgaria)
2000 - Sergey Klyugin (Russia) & Yelena Yelesina (Russia)
2004 - Stefan Holm (Sweden) & Elena Slesarenko (Russia)
2008 - Andrey Silnov (Russia) & Tia Hellebaut (Belgium)
2012 - Anna Chicherova (Russia)
2016 - Derek Drouin (US) & Ruth Beitia (Spain)
2020 - MutazEssa Barshim(Qatar)/Gianmarco Tamberi (Italy) & Mariya Lasitskene (Russian Olympic Committee)
2024 - Hamish Kerr (New Zealand) & Yaroslava Mahuchikh (Ukraine)

*Russia's Ivan Ukhov won the gold medal, with a jump of 2.38m, however his medal was rescinded in 2019 due to doping violations. As of August 2021, the medal has not been reallocated. The silver medal was awarded to the US' Erik Kynard, who recorded a jump of 2.33m.

Citation formats

The high jump has been a permanent fixture for men at the Olympic Games since 1896, while the women's event was first introduced in 1928. As of 2024, the current Olympic record for men was set by Charles Austin at Atlanta 1996, with 2.39 meters. Meanwhile, the women's record was set at Athens 2004 by Elena Slesarenko, reaching a height of 2.06 meters.

The Fosbury Flop

Throughout Olympic history, the most popular high jump technique continuously changed and developed over the decades, including scissor, cut-off and straddle techniques. As the sand and dirt landing areas were replaced by foam mats in the mid-1900s (making the landings safer and more comfortable for athletes), more experimental techniques came into play. In the 1968 Olympics, Dick Fosbury revolutionized the high jump by using the straddle's technique of bending the body to lower the center of mass, however Fosbury changed this by jumping off his outside foot, and leading with his upper body while facing upwards, then quickly raising his legs as momentum carried him over the bar. Fosbury set a new Olympic record at 2.24 meters and took the gold medal, contributing to the United States' dominance in the event. Over fifty years later, "the Fosbury Flop" technique continues to be used by almost all top level high jumpers.

Ray Ewry

Between 1900 and 1912, a standing high jump event was held for men. U.S. specialist Ray Ewry won gold in the first three of these events, making him the only male athlete to have won multiple golds in an Olympic high jump event. The heights recorded by Ewry were between 1.57 meters and 1.66 meters, roughly twenty to thirty centimeters below the winning jumps in the traditional high jump. Ewry also took five additional golds in the standing versions of the long jump and triple jump, making him one of the most successful athletes of all time.