Gold medal heights in the high jump at the Summer Olympics 1896-2020
in 1996. For women, the world record was set at 2.09 meters by Bulgaria's Stefka Kostadinova in 1987, and the Olympic record was set at 2.06 meters by Yelena Slesarenko in 2004. The United States has taken the most medals in the high jump, claiming 13 golds in the men's event and four in the women's (although Soviet athletes won the most overall medals in the women's event). The only athletes to have won two golds were Romania's Iolanda Balaş in 1960 and 1964, and West Germany's Ulrike Meyfarth in 1972 and 1984 (with these two golds, Meyfarth holds the records as both the youngest and oldest gold medalist in the high jump). A rare occurrence took place in the finals of the men's event in the 2020, where the two leading competitors in the final agreed to share the gold medal rather than take part in a "jump off"; with this gold, Qatar's Mutaz Essa Barshim became the event's most successful athlete, with three medals (one of each color) to his name.
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. The current world record for men was set at 2.45 meters by Cuba's Javier Sotomayor in 1993, and the Olympic record was set at 2.39 meters by the U.S.' Charles Austin