The men's high jump competition at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil was held at the Olympic Stadium between 14–16 August.[1] Forty-four athletes from 28 nations competed.[2] The event was won by Derek Drouin of Canada, the nation's first victory in the men's high jump since 1932 (and second overall). Drouin was the ninth man to win multiple medals in the high jump, after his 2012 silver. Mutaz Essa Barshim, who had tied Drouin for silver in 2012, was the tenth multiple medalist in the event. Barshim's silver was Qatar's fifth Olympic medal in any event, and the first better than bronze. Bohdan Bondarenko took bronze, Ukraine's first medal in the men's high jump.
Background
This was the 28th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. The returning finalists from the 2012 Games were gold medalist Erik Kynard of the United States, all three silver medalists (Derek Drouin of Canada, Robert Grabarz of Great Britain, and Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar), sixth place finisher Bohdan Bondarenko of Ukraine, seven-place finisher Michael Mason of Canada, eight-place finisher Andriy Protsenko of Ukraine, and twelve-place finisher Kyriakos Ioannou of Cyprus.[2]
The 2012 Olympic championIvan Ukhov was absent as a result of the Russian team's ban for doping (he would later be stripped of the 2012 gold medal). Another major absence, due to injury, was Italy's Gianmarco Tamberi who ranked second in the world and had won the 2016 World Indoor Championships. The top ranked athlete with 2.40metres was Qatar's Barshim, who won the 2012 Olympic bronze medal and had previously jumped 2.43 metres in competition in 2014, the second-highest clearance in history. Drouin, who shared the 2012 bronze with Barshim, was ranked third in the world in 2016 and was the winner at the 2015 World Championships. The 2015 silver and bronze medalists Bondarenko and Zhang Guowei, American Olympic medalist Kynard, and 31-year-old Donald Thomas of the Bahamas (ranked fourth), also qualified for the event. All those athletes, save for Zhang, advanced to the final.[3][4]
San Marino made its debut in the event. The United States made its 27th appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.
Summary
Forty-four athletes competed in the qualification round, all, save for one, having achieved the Olympic qualifying mark of 2.29 metres. Eleven of those competitors cleared 2.29 metres to advance to the final, with an additional four who jumped 2.26 metres also advancing.
The opening height in the final was 2.20 m. Of the 15 men who qualified for the final, two failed to clear the next height, 2.25 m, and a further three were eliminated at 2.29 m. Six athletes remained clean through 2.29 m, having no misses on any of their attempts (though Bondarenko passed at the height). At 2.33 m, five competitors cleared on their initial attempt, four were eliminated and six remained in the competition. Barshim, Drouin, and Bondarenko remained clean at 2.33 m; Robert Grabarz and Andriy Protsenko also cleared 2.33 m on their first attempts, but both men had a single miss at earlier heights and were tied for fourth. Erik Kynard was in sixth place after taking three attempts to get over 2.33 m. Barshim and Drouin remained perfect at 2.36 m; Grabarz, Protsenko and Kynard were unable to advance while Bondarenko passed at the height. Barshim, Drouin and Bondarenko were now guaranteed medals, as Barshim and Drouin were the only ones over 2.36 m, and Bondarenko had fewer misses in the competition than the three others (besides Drouin, Barshim and himself) who had cleared 2.33 m. With the bar now set at 2.38m (7ft 9+1⁄2in) , Drouin cleared on his first attempt. Barshim was unable to clear 2.38 m after three attempts, and was eliminated. Bondarenko failed twice to clear at the height and, following Barshim's second failure, he elected to pass his third attempt. With the bar raised to an Olympic-record height of 2.40 m, he hoped to clear and take the lead from Drouin, but he had only a single attempt. Jumping before Drouin, he failed at his attempt and Drouin won the competition, securing Canada's first gold medal in the event since 1932. Having won the gold medal, Drouin elected to attempt the height and thus set a new Olympic record. His single attempt was a failure and he decided to retire from the competition. Barshim received the silver medal and Bondarenko received the bronze.
A National Olympic Committee (NOC) could enter up to 3 qualified athletes in the men's high jump event if all athletes met the entry standard during the qualifying period. (The limit of 3 has been in place since the 1930 Olympic Congress.) The qualifying standard was 2.29 metres. The qualifying period was from 1 May 2015 to 11 July 2016. The qualifying distance standards could be obtained in various meets during the given period that have the approval of the IAAF. Both indoor and outdoor meets were accepted. NOCs could also use their universality place—each NOC could enter one male athlete regardless of time if they had no male athletes meeting the entry standard for an athletics event—in the high jump.[5][6]
Competition format
The competition consisted of two rounds, qualification and final. In qualification, each athlete had three attempts at each height and was eliminated if they had three consecutive failed attempts, either at one height, or over two (or even three) heights if they chose to pass after one or two failures at one height. Athletes who successfully jumped the qualifying height moved on to the final. If fewer than 12 reached that height, the best 12 moved on. Cleared heights reset for the final, which followed the same three-attempts-per-height format until all athletes recorded three consecutive failed attempts, save for the victor who could opt not to make any more attempts.
Records
Prior to the competition[update], the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
Qualification rule: Qualifying performance 2.31 (Q) or at least 12 best performers (q) advance to the final. With only 11 athletes successfully clearing 2.29 metres, none of the jumpers attempted 2.31 metres.
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