Javier Sotomayor facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Javier Sotomayor

Sotomayor in 2009
Personal information
Born	(1967-10-13) 13 October 1967 (age 57) Limonar, Cuba
Height	1.93 m
Weight	80 kg
Sport
Sport	Track and field
Event(s)	High jump
Medal record Men's athletics Representing  Cuba Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 1 1 0 World Championships 2 2 0 World Indoor Championships 4 1 1 Pan American Games 3 0 0 CAC Championships 2 0 1 Total 12 4 2 Olympic Games Gold 1992 Barcelona High jump Silver 2000 Sydney High jump World Championships Gold 1993 Stuttgart High jump Gold 1997 Athens High jump Silver 1991 Tokyo High jump Silver 1995 Gothenburg High jump IAAF World Indoor Championships Gold 1989 Budapest High jump Gold 1993 Toronto High jump Gold 1995 Barcelona High jump Gold 1999 Maebashi High jump Silver 1985 Paris High jump Bronze 1991 Seville High jump Goodwill Games Gold 1994 Saint Petersburg High jump  Gold 1998 New York High jump  Pan American Games Gold 1987 Indianapolis High jump Gold 1991 Havana High jump Gold 1995 Mar del Plata High jump Friendship Games Silver 1984 Moscow High jump CAC Championships Gold 1985 Nassau High jump Gold 1989 San Juan High jump Bronze 1983 Havana High jump Universiade Gold 1989 Duisburg High jump Pan American Junior Championships Gold 1986 Winter Park High jump CAC Junior Championships (U20) Gold 1986 Mexico City High jump

Javier Sotomayor Sanabria is a famous Cuban athlete who specialized in the high jump. He holds the current world record in this sport. Javier was the top high jumper in the 1990s. His best jump of 2.45 meters (about 8 feet) makes him the only person ever to clear 8 feet! He achieved this amazing height twice.

Javier Sotomayor won two gold medals and two silver medals at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics. He also earned four gold medals at the IAAF World Indoor Championships between 1989 and 1999. He won three straight titles at the Pan American Games from 1987 to 1995. Many people consider him the greatest high jumper of all time. He won a gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics and a silver medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics. He retired from the sport in 2001.

About Javier Sotomayor

Javier Sotomayor was born in Limonar, Matanzas Province, Cuba, on October 13, 1967. His mother worked at a day-care, and his father was a maintenance worker at a sugar factory.

Because he was tall, Javier was first sent to a Cuban sports school to play basketball. However, when he was 14, coaches saw his talent and encouraged him to try high jump. By the time he was 19, he was already ranked among the top five high jumpers in the world.

Javier Sotomayor is engaged to Amaya González. He has four sons, and one of them, Javier Sotomayor García, has also become a high jumper.

Javier's Early Career

Setting Junior World Records

Javier Sotomayor was only 14 years old when he first jumped over 2 meters (about 6 feet 7 inches). By the end of 1983, his best jump was 2.15 meters. He then set a junior world record on May 19, 1984, by clearing 2.33 meters at a competition in Havana.

In 1985, he won a silver medal at the World Indoor Championships in Paris. He jumped 2.30 meters. He kept getting better, improving his personal best to 2.34 meters in Havana in March 1985. The next year, he jumped 2.36 meters in Santiago de Cuba.

Javier won his first big international title in 1987 at the Pan American Games. He also set a new personal best of 2.37 meters at a meet in Athens, Greece, in June 1987.

Javier's Amazing Achievements

First World Record in 1988

On September 8, 1988, Javier Sotomayor set a new world record of 2.43 meters at a competition in Salamanca, Spain. This was just four days before the 1988 Summer Olympics began. His jump broke the previous record of 2.42 meters.

Breaking His Own Records in 1989 and 1993

Javier Sotomayor broke his own world record twice more! On July 29, 1989, he jumped 2.44 meters at the Central American and Caribbean Championships in San Juan, Puerto Rico. This was a historic jump because it was the first time anyone had ever cleared 8 feet!

He then set the current world record of 2.45 meters in Salamanca, Spain, on July 27, 1993. This incredible jump required only four attempts. He cleared 2.32 meters, then 2.38 meters on his first try. Then, he had the bar raised to 2.45 meters, which he cleared on his second attempt.

Videos of his record-breaking jump show his unique style. He used a galloping approach with two long strides in the middle of his 14-step run. He had a powerful take-off using his left leg and pumping both arms.

After setting the record in Salamanca, Javier told reporters that he loved the city because it felt like home. He said the people recognized him and made him feel good.

World Indoor Record in 1989

Javier Sotomayor also holds the current world indoor record of 2.43 meters. He set this record in Budapest on March 4, 1989, during the 1989 IAAF World Indoor Championships. He cleared this height on his first try.

Olympic Gold in 1992

Javier Sotomayor finally got to compete in the Summer Olympics in 1992. He won the gold medal in Barcelona, Spain. He later won a silver medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.

At the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, Javier won because he was the only one to clear the winning height of 2.34 meters on his first attempt. Five athletes cleared this height, but Javier's "clean" jumps gave him the gold.

World Champion Indoors and Outdoors in 1993

Less than a month after setting the world record of 2.45 meters in Salamanca, Javier won the 1993 World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany. He jumped 2.40 meters, setting a new World Championships record. The second-place jumper only cleared 2.37 meters.

He continued to dominate, clearing 2.40 meters again on March 25, 1995, at the Pan American Games in Mar del Plata, Argentina. At the 1995 World Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden, he finished second, clearing 2.37 meters.

In 1997, at the World Championships in Athens, Greece, Javier won another gold medal. He defeated his rival with a jump of 2.37 meters.

1996 Olympic Challenge

Javier Sotomayor had a good start to 1996 during the indoor season. However, he faced injuries during the outdoor season. At the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, he qualified for the finals but could only manage a jump of 2.25 meters, placing him 11th. This was a challenging time for him due to his injuries.

2000 Olympics in Sydney

Javier Sotomayor was able to compete in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. The high jump finals were held in rainy and windy conditions, which made it difficult for the athletes. Javier was awarded the silver medal, having cleared 2.32 meters with very few missed jumps.

A Dominant Career

Sotomayor's dominance of all-time best high jumps.

Javier Sotomayor showed incredible dominance in high jump history. When he retired, he held 17 of the top 20 highest jumps ever recorded. Only 13 men in history have jumped 2.40 meters or higher, and Javier did it 24 times in 21 different competitions! He is the only person to have cleared 2.44 meters, which he did twice.

His greatest year was 1994, when he was the only jumper to clear 2.40 meters or better, doing so ten times that year. He won at the Goodwill Games in St. Petersburg and the World Cup in London, where his best jump of 2.40 meters was much higher than anyone else's.

Track & Field News ranked Javier Sotomayor among the "Top 10" high jumpers for ten different years. He was ranked #1 for eight of those years: 1988, 1989, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, and 1998. This shows how consistently he was the best in the world.

Retirement

In September 2001, Javier Sotomayor announced that he would end his career. He stated that injuries, particularly an Achilles tendon problem, had made it difficult for him to perform at his best. This injury reduced his run-up from nine steps to seven, and then to just five, making it harder to achieve his incredible heights.

Competition Record

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Notes
Representing  Cuba
1983	Central American and Caribbean Championships	Havana, Cuba	3rd	2.17 m
1984	Friendship Games	Moscow, Soviet Union	2nd	2.25 m
1985	World Indoor Games	Paris, France	2nd	2.30 m
	Central American and Caribbean Championships	Nassau, Bahamas	1st	2.30 m
	Universiade	Kobe, Japan	10th	2.20 m
1986	Pan American Junior Championships	Winter Park, Florida, U.S.	1st	2.27 m
	Central American and Caribbean Junior Championships (U20)	Mexico City, Mexico	1st	2.31 m (A)
	World Junior Championships	Athens, Greece	1st	2.25 m
	Ibero-American Championships	Havana, Cuba	1st	2.30 m
1987	World Indoor Championships	Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.	4th	2.32 m
	Pan American Games	Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.	1st	2.32 m
	World Championships	Rome, Italy	9th	2.29 m
1988	Ibero-American Championships	Mexico City, Mexico	1st	2.35 m A
1989	World Indoor Championships	Budapest, Hungary	1st	2.43 m (iWR)
	Central American and Caribbean Championships	San Juan, San Juan	1st	2.44 m
	Universiade	Duisburg, West Germany	1st	2.34 m
1990	Central American and Caribbean Games	Mexico City, Mexico	1st	2.34 m (A)
1991	World Indoor Championships	Seville, Spain	3rd	2.31 m
	Pan American Games	Havana, Cuba	1st	2.35 m
	World Championships	Tokyo, Japan	2nd	2.36 m
1992	Ibero-American Championships	Seville, Spain	1st	2.30 m
	Olympic Games	Barcelona, Spain	1st	2.34 m
1993	World Indoor Championships	Toronto, Canada	1st	2.41 m
	Gran Premio Diputación	Salamanca, Spain	1st	2.45 m WR
	Central American and Caribbean Games	Ponce, Ponce	1st	2.35 m
	World Championships	Stuttgart, Germany	1st	2.40 m
1994	Goodwill Games	St. Petersburg, Russia	1st	2.40 m
1995	World Indoor Championships	Barcelona, Spain	1st	2.38 m
	Pan American Games	Mar del Plata, Argentina	1st	2.40 m
	World Championships	Gothenburg, Sweden	2nd	2.37 m
1996	Ibero-American Championships	Medellín, Colombia	1st	2.30 m
	Olympic Games	Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.	11th	2.25 m
1997	World Championships	Athens, Greece	1st	2.37 m
1998	Goodwill Games	Uniondale, New York, U.S.	1st	2.33 m
	Central American and Caribbean Games	Maracaibo, Venezuela	1st	2.37 m
1999	World Indoor Championships	Maebashi, Japan	1st	2.36 m
	Pan American Games	Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada	–	DQ
2000	Olympic Games	Sydney, Australia	2nd	2.32 m
2001	World Indoor Championships	Lisbon, Portugal	5th	2.25 m
	World Championships	Edmonton, Ontario, Canada	–	DQ

Images for kids

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  Sotomayor in 2009

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  Sotomayor's dominance of all-time best high jumps.

See also

In Spanish: Javier Sotomayor para niños