1968 Summer Olympics / Athletics - High Jump (Women)

sport	athletics
discipline	high jump
gender	Women
Attendees	24 athletes from 15 countries
Competition location	Estadio Olímpico Universitario
Competition phase	October 16, 1968 (qualification) October 17, 1968 (semi-finals / finals)
Medalists Milena Rezková ( TCH )   Antonina Lasarewa ( URS )   Walentyna Kosyr ( URS )

The women's high jump at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City was held on October 16 and 17, 1968 at the Estadio Olímpico Universitario . 24 athletes took part.

The Czechoslovak Milena Rezková became the Olympic champion . She won ahead of Antonina Lasarewa and Walentyna Kosyr , both from the Soviet Union.

For the GDR - officially East Germany - Rita Schmidt and Karin Schulze started . Both qualified for the final, in which Schmidt reached sixth and Schulze seventh.
The Austrian Ilona Gusenbauer also reached the final and was eighth there.
High jumpers from the Federal Republic of Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein did not take part.

Existing records

World record	1.91 m	Iolanda Balaș ( Romania )	Sofia , Bulgaria	July 16, 1961
Olympic record	1.90 m		Tokyo finals , Japan	October 15, 1964

Conducting the competition

The jumpers competed in two groups for a qualifying round on October 16. The qualification height for the direct entry into the final - October 17th - was 1.74 m. Since more than twelve athletes reached the final directly, the field of participants did not have to be increased.

Time schedule

October 16, 10:00 a.m .: Qualification

October 17, 3 p.m .: Final

Note: All times are Mexico City local time ( UTC −6)

The directly qualified athletes are highlighted in light blue, the following athletes in light green.

qualification

Date: October 16, 1968, from 10 a.m.

Group A

space	Surname	nation	1.50 m	1.55 m	1.60 m	1.65 m	1.68 m	1.71 m	1.74 m	height	annotation
1	Jaroslava Valentová	Czechoslovakia	-	-	-	O	-	O	O	1.74 m
2	Ilona Gusenbauer	Austria	-	-	-	O	O	O	O	1.74 m
	Karin Schulze	GDR
	Rita Schmidt	GDR
5	Walentyna Kosyr	Soviet Union	-	-	O	O	O	O	O	1.74 m
6th	Mária Faithová	Czechoslovakia	-	-	O	O	O	xo	O	1.74 m
7th	Antonina Lazareva	Soviet Union	-	-	-	O	-	O	x o	1.74 m
8th	Vera Grushkina	Soviet Union	-	-	O	O	O	O	x o	1.74 m
	Milena Rezková	Czechoslovakia
10	Jordanka Blagoewa	Bulgaria	-	-	O	xo	O	xxx		1.68 m
11	Eleanor Montgomery	United States	-	-	-	xxo	O	xxx		1.68 m
12	Virginia Bonci	Romania	-	O	O	O	-	xxx		1.65 m

Group B

space	Surname	nation	1.50 m	1.55 m	1.60 m	1.65 m	1.68 m	1.71 m	1.74 m	height	annotation
1	Barbara Inkpen	Great Britain	-	-	-	xo	O	xo	O	1.74 m
2	Maria Cipriano	Brazil	-	-	O	O	O	O	x o	1.74 m
3	Ghislaine Barnay	France	-	-	-	O	O	xxo	x o	1.74 m
4th	Snežana Hrepevnik	Yugoslavia	-	-	O	O	xo	O	xx o	1.74 m
	Magdolna Komka	Hungary
6th	Audrey Reid	Jamaica	O	O	O	O	xxo	x o	xxx	1.71 m
7th	Nicole Denise	France	-	-	-	O	O	xxx		1.68 m
8th	Katja Lassowa	Bulgaria	-	O	O	xo	O	xxx		1.68 m
9	Dorothy Shirley	Great Britain	-	O	O	O	xx o	xxx		1.68 m
10	Sharon Callahan	United States	O	xo	O	xxx				1.60 m
11	Anne Lise Wærness	Norway	O	O	x o	xxx				1.60 m
ogV	Estelle Baskerville	United States	-	-	xxx	xxx					without height

final

Date: October 17, 1968, 3 p.m.

After the resignation of Romanian Iolanda Balaș , who had dominated the high jump for ten years, the situation was completely new. The GDR jumper Rita Schmidt was the favorite in Mexico City . She had increased up to 1.87 m and was only four centimeters below the Romanian's world record .

14 jumpers had successfully passed the qualification. In the final, eight athletes were still in the race after jumping over 1.76 m. Due to the failed attempt rule, Walentyna Kosyr from the USSR was in the lead. The Austrian Ilona Gusenbauer and Karin Schulze, GDR, failed at 1.78 m. The height of 1.80 m was torn three times by the two Czechoslovakians Mária Faihtová and Jaroslava Valentová and surprisingly also by Rita Schmidt.

There were now only three female athletes in the competition who distributed the medals among themselves. The two Soviet jumpers Kosyr and Lasarewa failed at 1.82 m. Antonina Lasarewa won silver due to fewer unsuccessful attempts, while bronze went to Walentyna Kosyr. The Czechoslovak Milena Rezková jumped 1.80 m in the first and 1.82 m in the second attempt before failing at 1.84 m. With that she had won the gold medal. Iolanda Balas' records remained completely untouched in these games.

Milena Rezková was the first Czechoslovak Olympic champion in the high jump .

• 

  Best German: Rita Schmidt, GDR

• 

  Karin Schulze from the GDR reached seventh place

space	Surname	nation	1.55 m	1.60 m	1.65 m	1.68 m	1.71 m	1.74 m	1.76 m	1.78 m	1.80 m	1.82 m	1.84 m	Bottom line	annotation
1	Milena Rezková	Czechoslovakia	-	-	O	-	xo	xo	xo	O	O	xx o	xxx	1.82 m
2	Antonina Lazareva	Soviet Union	-	-	-	O	-	O	-	xo	O	xxx		1.80 m
3	Walentyna Kosyr	Soviet Union	-	-	O	O	O	O	O	xo	xx o	xxx		1.80 m
4th	Jaroslava Valentová	Czechoslovakia	-	-	O	-	O	-	xo	O	xxx			1.78 m
5	Rita Schmidt	GDR	-	-	O	-	O	xxo	O	x o	xxx			1.78 m
6th	Mária Faithová	Czechoslovakia	-	-	xo	-	O	xo	O	xx o	xxx			1.78 m
7th	Karin Schulze	GDR	-	-	O	-	xo	O	O	xxx				1.76 m
8th	Ilona Gusenbauer	Austria	-	-	-	O	xo	O	x o	xxx				1.76 m
9	Ghislaine Barnay	France	-	-	O	O	O	xxx						1.71 m
	Magdolna Komka	Hungary
11	Maria Cipriano	Brazil	-	O	O	O	xx o	xxx						1.71 m
12	Vera Grushkina	Soviet Union	-	-	O	xo	xx o	xxx						1.71 m
13	Barbara Inkpen	Great Britain	-	-	O	O	xxx							1.68 m
14th	Snežana Hrepevnik	Yugoslavia	-	-	xo	x o	xxx							1.68 m

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 2: 1948–1968, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 1st edition 1969, p. 386f

Video

• In memory of Miloslava Rezková , published on October 21, 2014 on youtube.com, accessed on November 10, 2017

Web links

• SportsReference high jump , accessed November 10, 2017
• Official report - summary p. 88f, English / French. (PDF), accessed on November 10, 2017
• Official report of the 1968 Olympic Games p. 536, English / French. (PDF), accessed on November 10, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Berlin 2009 Page 644 (Engl.) ( Memento of 29 June 2011 at the Internet Archive ), accessed on November 10, 2017
2. ↑ Official report of the 1968 Olympic Games ( Memento of the original from September 17, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. P. 10, English / French (PDF), accessed on November 10, 2017 
3. ↑ ^{a b} Official Report of the 1968 Olympic Games ( Memento of the original from September 17, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. P. 536, English / French (PDF), accessed on November 10, 2017 
4. ↑ SportsReference , accessed November 10, 2017