Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's high jump

The men's high jump at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 17–19 August at the Beijing Olympic Stadium.[1] Forty athletes from 28 nations competed.[2] The event was won by Andrey Silnov of Russia, the nation's second victory (after 2000) in the men's high jump. Germaine Mason's silver was Great Britain's first medal in the event since 1996, and matched the nation's best-ever result. Silnov's countryman Yaroslav Rybakov won bronze, marking the first time since 1988 that a nation had two medalists in the men's high jump in the same Games. Reigning world champion Donald Thomas, who cleared 2.32 metres at Osaka 2007, finished in twenty-first place and failed to advance into the final round. For the first time (other than the boycotted 1980 Games), no American made the final.[2]

Men's high jump
at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
Andrey Silnov (2018)
VenueBeijing Olympic Stadium
Dates17 August 2008 (qualifying)
19 August 2008 (final)
Competitors40 from 28 nations
Winning height2.36
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Andrey Silnov
 Russia
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Germaine Mason
 Great Britain
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Yaroslav Rybakov
 Russia
← 2004
2012 →

In June 2019, Silnov faced doping charges.[3] His doping ban was confirmed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on 7 April 2021 when he was banned for four years with all of his results from 8 July 2013 disqualified.[4] In 2023, Silnov was seen awarding athletes at a Russian domestic competition for which the World Anti-Doping Agency extended his ban for a further year.[5]

Background

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This was the 26th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. The returning finalists from the 2004 Games were gold medalist (and 2000 fourth-place finisher) Stefan Holm of Sweden, bronze medalist Jaroslav Bába of the Czech Republic, sixth-place finisher Yaroslav Rybakov and ninth-place finisher Vyacheslav Voronin of Russia (the latter of whom had also been a finalist in 2000), tenth-place finisher Dragutin Topić of Serbia (now in his fifth Games under his fourth flag: Independent Olympic Participant in 1992, Yugoslavia in 1996 and 2000, Serbia and Montenegro in 2004), and twelfth-place finisher Alessandro Talotti of Italy.[2]

Antigua and Barbuda, Botswana, Mexico, Serbia, and Slovakia each made their debut in the event. The United States made its 25th appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.

Qualification

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The qualifying standards were 2.30 m (7.55 ft) (A standard) and 2.27 m (7.45 ft) (B standard).[6] Each National Olympic Committee (NOC) was able to enter up to three entrants providing they had met the A standard in the qualifying period (1 January 2007 to 23 July 2008). NOCs were also permitted to enter one athlete providing he had met the B standard in the same qualifying period.[7] The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress.

Competition format

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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 2.10 metres, 2.15 metres, 2.20 metres, 2.25 metres, and 2.29 metres. All jumpers clearing 2.29 metres in the qualifying round advanced to the final. If fewer than 12 jumpers could achieve it, the top 12 (including ties, though for the first time the countback rules would be applied to narrow the ties) would advance to the final.

The final had jumps at 2.15 metres, 2.20 metres, 2.25 metres, 2.29 metres, 2.32 metres, 2.34 metres, and 2.36 metres; the winner also took attempts at 2.42 metres.[2][8]

Records

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Prior to this competition, the existing world record, Olympic record, and world leading jumps were as follows:

World record   Javier Sotomayor (CUB) 2.45 Salamanca, Spain 27 July 1993
Olympic record   Charles Austin (USA) 2.39 Atlanta, United States 27 July 1996
World Leading   Yaroslav Rybakov (RUS)
  Andrey Silnov (RUS)
2.38 Moscow, Russia
London, United Kingdom
10 February 2008
25 July 2008

No new world or Olympic records were set for this event.

Schedule

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All times are China Standard Time (UTC+8)

Date Time Round
Sunday, 17 August 2008 20:20 Qualifying
Tuesday, 19 August 2008 19:10 Final

Results

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Key

  • o = Height cleared
  • x = Height failed
  • = Height passed
  • r  = Retired
  • SB = Season's best
  • PB = Personal best
  • NR = National record
  • AR = Area record
  • OR = Olympic record
  • WR = World record
  • WL = World lead
  • NM = No mark
  • DNS = Did not start
  • DQ = Disqualified

Qualifying round

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Qualification Criteria: Qualifying Performance 2.32 (Q) or at least 12 best performers (q) advance to the final. Because only 8 jumpers cleared 2.29 metres, nobody took any attempts at 2.32 metres. In prior Games, the top 12 including all ties for a given height would advance; this time, the countback rules applied and only some of the jumpers clearing 2.25 metres advanced. The qualification rule, in effect, became "cleared 2.29 metres, or cleared 2.25 metres on the first attempt with no more than one miss before that." Thus, Parson—who cleared 2.25 metres on the first attempt and had one miss at 2.20 metres—advanced in 12th place while Manson—who also cleared 2.25 metres on the first attempt and had one miss at 2.20 metres, but had also had a miss at 2.15 metres—was eliminated in 13th place. (The prior rules would have led to a 20-man final in Beijing.)

Rank Group Athlete Nation 2.10 2.15 2.20 2.25 2.29 Height Notes
1 A Jaroslav Bába   Czech Republic o o o o 2.29 q
B Jessé de Lima   Brazil o o o o 2.29 q
B Tomáš Janků   Czech Republic o o o o o 2.29 q
A Germaine Mason   Great Britain o o o o 2.29 q
5 A Raúl Spank   Germany o o xo o 2.29 q
6 B Martyn Bernard   Great Britain o o o xo 2.29 q
A Stefan Holm   Sweden o o o xo 2.29 q
B Andrey Silnov   Russia o o o xo 2.29 q
9 B Filippo Campioli   Italy o o o o xxx 2.25 q
A Rožle Prezelj   Slovenia o o o xxx 2.25 q
A Yaroslav Rybakov   Russia o o o xxx 2.25 q
12 B Tom Parsons   Great Britain o xo o xxx 2.25 q
13 A Andra Manson   United States xo xo o xxx 2.25
14 A Andrea Bettinelli   Italy o o xo xxx 2.25
A Mickael Hanany   France o o o xo xxx 2.25
A Vyacheslav Voronin   Russia o o xo xxx 2.25
17 A Dragutin Topić   Serbia o xo xo xxx 2.25
18 B Kyriakos Ioannou   Cyprus xo xo xo xxx 2.25
19 B Michael Mason   Canada o o xxo xxx 2.25
B Jesse Williams   United States o o xxo xxx 2.25
21 B Dmytro Demyanyuk   Ukraine o o o xxx 2.20
A Niki Palli   Israel o o o xxx 2.20
A Donald Thomas   Bahamas o o xxx 2.20
24 A Michał Bieniek   Poland xo o xxx 2.20
A Majed Aldin Gazal   Syria o xo o xxx 2.20 =NR
26 A Dusty Jonas   United States o o xo xxx 2.20
B Linus Thörnblad   Sweden o xo xxx 2.20
28 B James Grayman   Antigua and Barbuda xo xxo xo xxx 2.20
29 B Javier Bermejo   Spain o o xxo xxx 2.20
B Kabelo Kgosiemang   Botswana o xxo xxx 2.20
B Alessandro Talotti   Italy o o xxo xxx 2.20
32 B Lee Hup Wei   Malaysia o xo xxo xxx 2.20
33 A Peter Horák   Slovakia o xo xxx 2.15
B Yuriy Krymarenko   Ukraine o xo xxx 2.15
A Gerardo Martínez   Mexico o xo xxx 2.15
36 B Naoyuki Daigo   Japan xxo xxo xxx 2.15
37 A Konstadínos Baniótis   Greece xo xxx 2.10
B Sergey Zasimovich   Kazakhstan xo xxx 2.10
39 A Oleksandr Nartov   Ukraine xxo xxx 2.10
B Huang Haiqiang   China xxx No mark

Final

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The final was held on August 19.

Rank Athlete Nation 2.15 2.20 2.25 2.29 2.32 2.34 2.36 2.42 Height Notes
  Andrey Silnov   Russia o o o o o o xxx 2.36
  Germaine Mason   Great Britain o o x– o o xxx 2.34 PB
  Yaroslav Rybakov   Russia o o o xxo o xxx 2.34 SB
4 Stefan Holm   Sweden o o o o x– xx 2.32
5 Raúl Spank   Germany o o o o xxo xx– x 2.32 PB
6 Jaroslav Bába   Czech Republic o o o o x– x– x 2.29
7 Tomáš Janků   Czech Republic o o o xo x– xx 2.29
8 Tom Parsons   Great Britain o o o xxx 2.25
9 Martyn Bernard   Great Britain o o xo x– xx 2.25
10 Jessé de Lima   Brazil o o xxx 2.20
Filippo Campioli   Italy o xxx 2.20
12 Rožle Prezelj   Slovenia o xxo xxx 2.20

References

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  1. ^ "Olympic Athletics Competition Schedule". IAAF. Archived from the original on 13 September 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-04.
  2. ^ a b c d "High Jump, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
  3. ^ "Olympic gold medallist steps down as first vice-president of Russian Athletics Federation while facing doping case". www.insidethegames.biz. Retrieved 2021-04-07.
  4. ^ CAS Media Release (tas-cas.org)
  5. ^ Сильнов отстранен еще на год
  6. ^ "Entry Standards - The XXIX Olympic Games - Beijing, China - 8/24 August 2008". IAAF. Archived from the original on 13 September 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-04.
  7. ^ "Entry Standards - The XXIX Olympic Games - Beijing, China - 8/24 August 2008". IAAF. Archived from the original on 13 September 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-04.
  8. ^ Official Report, Results Book for Athletics.