1928 Summer Olympics / Athletics - High Jump (Men)

sport	athletics
discipline	high jump
gender	Men
Attendees	35 athletes from 17 countries
Competition location	Olympic Stadium Amsterdam
Competition phase	July 29, 1928
Medalist Bob King ( USA )   Benjamin Hedges ( USA )   Claude Ménard ( FRA )

The men's high jump at the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam was held on July 29, 1928 in the Amsterdam Olympic Stadium. 35 athletes took part.

The American Bob King was Olympic champion ahead of his compatriot Benjamin Hedges . Bronze went to the Frenchman Claude Ménard .

Existing records

• World record : 2.03 m - Harold Osborn ( USA ), Urbana , May 27, 1924
• Olympic record : 1.98 m - Harold Osborn ( USA ), Olympic high jump final in Paris , July 7, 1924

Conducting the competition

A qualifying round was held in four groups on July 29th. The qualification height was 1.83 meters. The final for the qualified jumpers took place on the same day.

Note: The qualified jumpers are highlighted in light blue.

qualification

Date: July 29, 1928

Group 1

space	Surname	nation	height	annotation
1	Colin Gordon	Great Britain	1.83 m
	Kornél Késmárki	Hungary
	Pierre Lewden	France
	Harold Osborn	United States
	Simeon Toribio	Philippines
6th	Antonios Karyofyllis	Greece	1.77 m
	Valerio Vallanía	Argentina
8th	Joop Kamstra	Netherlands	1.70 m
	Otto Schop	Romania
10	Adolfas Akelaitis	Lithuania	1.60 m

Group 2

space	Surname	nation	height	annotation
1	Wolf Boneder	German Empire	1.83 m
	André Cherrier	France
	Benjamin Hedges	United States
4th	Carl van Geyzel	Great Britain	1.77 m
	Ioannis Karyofyllis	Greece
	Oscar Midtlyng	Norway
7th	Tiberiu Rusu	Romania	1.70 m
ogV	Armas Wahlstedt	Finland

Group 3

space	Surname	nation	height	annotation
1	Fritz Chicken	German Empire	1.83 m
	Kimura Kazuo	Japan
	Charles McGinnis	United States
	Claude Ménard	France
	Harry Simmons	Great Britain
	Einar Tommelstad	Norway
7th	Henri Thesingh	Netherlands	1.77 m
8th	Haydar Asan	Turkey	1.70 m
DSQ	Alex Munroe	Canada

Group 4

Failed in the qualification: Paavo Yrjölä (FIN), the later Olympic champion in the decathlon

space	Surname	nation	height	annotation
1	Herbert Adolfsson	Sweden	1.83 m
	Bob King	United States
	Fritz Koepke	German Empire
	Oda Mikio	Japan
5	Ferenc Orbán	Hungary	1.77 m
	Geoffrey Turner	Great Britain
	Paavo Yrjölä	Finland
8th	Frits Buhrman	Netherlands	1.70 m

final

space	Surname	nation	height	annotation
1	Bob King	United States	1.94 m
2	Benjamin Hedges	United States	1.91 m	after jump-off with Ménard, Toribio and Osborn
3	Claude Ménard	France	1.91 m	after jump-off with Hedges, Toribio and Osborn
4th	Simeon Toribio	Philippines	1.91 m	after jump-off with Hedges, Ménard and Osborn
5	Harold Osborn	United States	1.91 m	after jump-off with Hedges, Ménard and Toribio
6th	Kimura Kazuo	Japan	1.88 m
7th	André Cherrier	France	1.88 m
	Pierre Lewden	France
	Charles McGinnis	United States
	Oda Mikio	Japan
11	Herbert Adolfsson	Sweden	1.84 m
	Kornél Késmárki	Hungary
	Fritz Koepke	German Empire
	Harry Simmons	Great Britain
	Einar Tommelstad	Norway
16	Wolf Boneder	German Empire	1.80 m
17th	Colin Gordon	Great Britain	1.70 m
	Fritz Chicken	German Empire

Date: July 29, 1928

18 jumpers had made it to the qualification level. The general conditions in Amsterdam were too bad for top performances, however, the run-up had become very soft due to the rain. The American Bob King was the only one to jump over the height of 1.94 m. This time that was enough to win gold. His predecessor Harold Osborn was also there, but it was no longer in the shape of four years ago. Since there was still no multiple / failed attempt rule, Osborn went into a jump-off with three other athletes who had all skipped 1.91m and finished fifth. Silver went to the American Benjamin Hedges, bronze went to the French Claude Ménard.

Bob King's win was the eighth win by a US jumper in the eighth Olympic high jump final . It was also the fifth US double victory.

Picture gallery

• 

  Olympic Champion Bob King (USA)

• 

  Oda Mikio (JPN) jumped to 7th place

• 

  Harry Simmons (GBR) reached number 11

• 

  Simmons compatriot Colin Gordon was 17.

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 1: 1896-1936, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 2nd edition 1970, pp. 202f

Web links

• SportsReference high jump , accessed September 13, 2017
• Official report pp. 440–443, engl. (PDF), accessed on September 13, 2017

Video

• Bob King's Unorthodox Style Wins High Jump Gold - Amsterdam 1928 Olympics , published November 8, 2012 on youtube.com, accessed September 13, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Berlin 2009 page 554 ( Memento from June 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
2. ^ Official report, pp. 440 - 443 (Eng.)
3. ↑ SportsReference (Eng.)