1896 Summer Olympics / Athletics - High Jump (Men)

sport	athletics
discipline	high jump
gender	Men
place	Panathinaic Stadium
Attendees	5 athletes from 3 countries
Competition phase	April 10, 1896
Medalist
Winner: silver	Ellery Clark ( USA )
Pl. 2: bronze	James Connolly ( USA )
	Robert Garrett ( USA )

Time schedule
date	Time	round
Friday April 10th	2:40 pm	final

The men's high jump at the Olympic Games in 1896 was held on April 10, 1896 in the Panathinaiko Stadium in Athens . A total of 5 athletes from 3 nations took part.

Records

The world record listed was still unofficial at the time.

World record	1.97 m	United States	Michael Sweeney	New York ( USA ), September 21, 1895

In the literature by Volker Kluge listed below, the existing record at one point is the height of 1.935 meters. When referring to the Olympic Games of 1900 , however, the author mentions a record, also held by Sweeney, of 1.97 m, which was set in 1895 and therefore also existed during the Athens Games. The latter coincides with the information given by Ekkehard on Megede.

Course of the competition

Image from the Olympic high jump competition

The Swede Henrik Sjöberg finished in the Olympics

April 10, 1896, 2:40 p.m.

The jumpers still remaining in the competition had to compete at every height. The starting height was 1.50 meters. After the first increases to 1.55 m and 1.60 m, each jump was increased by 2.5 centimeters until only one jumper could compete with Clark. He crossed four more heights and won by a large margin. Connolly and Garrett finished tied for second place. Depending on the source, there are different results and heights for those placed.

The US world record holder MikeSweeney, whose record was more than ten centimeters higher than the height of victory here in Athens, did not start . He had violated the then applicable amateur rules, which he was excluded from participating in the Olympic Games.

Result

Result according to SportsReference space Surname country Height (m)   1 Ellery Clark  United States 1.81 OR 2 James Connolly  United States 1.65 Robert Garrett  United States 1.65 4th Henrik Sjöberg  SWE 1.60 5 Fritz Hofmann  GER 1.55

Result to the Megede space Surname country Height (m)   1 Ellery Clark  United States 1.81 OR 2 James Connolly  United States 1.72 3 Robert Garrett  United States 1.71 4th Fritz Hofmann  GER 1.70 5 Henrik Sjöberg  SWE 1.70

Web links

• SportsReference, Men's High Jump , accessed July 15, 2018
• Olympic Games Athens 1896, Athletics, high jump men , IOC page on athletics at the Olympic Games 1896 at olympic.org, English, accessed July 15, 2018

literature

• Volker Kluge , Olympic Summer Games - The Chronicle I, Berlin 1997 ( ISBN 3-328-00715-6 )
• Ekkehard zur Megede : The History of Olympic Athletics. Volume 1: 1896-1936. Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 2nd edition 1970

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ekkehard to Megede : The history of Olympic athletics. Volume 1: 1896-1936. Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 22nd edition 1970, p. 1