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An Olympic year is important to every track and field athlete, but it
held special significance for Javier Sotomayor in 1992. Twice before he
had been denied the opportunity of Olympic competition due to boycotts
by the Cuban government. Firstly in 1984, after having set an age-16
world best of 2.33m, and then in 1988, less than three weeks after
setting a new world record of 2.43m. During the 1992 outdoor season,
Sotomayor had by far the best competitive record amongst the world's top
jumpers, winning 15 of the 17 competitions in which he took part. His
early season before the Olympics included a win at Eberstadt on 4 July
with his year's best jump of 2.36m, and a win at the Ibero-American
Championships at Seville later that month.
In the Olympic final on 2
August, Sotomayor passed the first two heights, but then needed two
attempts to clear his opening height of 2.24m. Having passed at the
next height of 2.28m, Sotomayor was one of five athletes who all cleared
2.31m on their first attempts, but because of his earlier failure,
Javier was only lying in equal third at this juncture. Nine jumpers
failed their first attempts at the next height of 2.34m, before
Sotomayor, jumping last, sailed over the bar to assume the lead.
Although others cleared 2.34m at subsequent attempts, no one, including
Sotomayor (see photo above) was able to jump any higher, and thus
Javier's long wait for Olympic competition had ended with a gold medal.
One of his two defeats of the year occurred at the World Cup in Havana
on 27 September, where Javier was forced to withdraw from the
competition due to injury after clearing 2.26m, although this
performance was still sufficient to earn him the silver medal. (Ron Casey)
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