|
Javier Sotomayor had clearly established himself as the world's premier
high jumper in the last two years of the 1980's, improving the world
record on two occasions, and becoming the first man to clear a height of
8 feet. Unfortunately his performances in 1990 were slightly below
those of the previous year, although, to be fair, it needs to be
acknowledged that he was absent due to injury during the peak two months
of the European season. Javier had sufficiently recovered his form by
the end of the year to win the gold medal at the Central American and
Caribbean Games at Mexico City on 2 December with a 2.34m clearance. In
the following year, he finished equal third at the World Indoor
Championships at Seville on 10 March.
During the outdoor season,
Sotomayor was the most consistent jumper at the more elevated heights,
clearing 2.36 or higher on four separate occasions, compared with the
next best tally of two. These included a 2.36m victory at the Cuban
national championships in Havana on 11 May and another 2.36m clearance
at Eberstadt on 2 June, while his best performance of the year was
2.40m, which he achieved at Saint Denis on 19 July. Three weeks later,
at Havana, he successfully defended his Pan-American title with a 2.35m
clearance. In the high jump final at the World Championships in Tokyo,
held on 1 September, Sotomayor (see photo above), was faultless
up to 2.36m, clearing 2.24m, 2.31m and 2.36m at his first attempts.
However, because of an ankle injury, he decided to keep his jumps to a
minimum and passed at 2.38m. After failing at his first attempt at
2.40m, he realised that his injured ankle prevented him from taking any
further jumps and retired, having the silver medal safely in his keeping
from his 2.36m clearance. (Ron Casey)
|