1988 Summer Olympics / Athletics - High Jump (Women)

sport	athletics
discipline	high jump
gender	Women
Attendees	24 athletes from 15 countries
Competition location	Seoul Olympic Stadium
Competition phase	September 29, 1988 (qualifying) September 30, 1988 (final)
Medalists Louise Ritter ( USA )   Stefka Kostadinowa ( BUL )   Tamara Bykowa ( URS )

The women's high jump at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul was held on September 29 and 30, 1988 in two rounds at the Seoul Olympic Stadium. 24 athletes took part.

The US-American Louise Ritter , who defeated Bulgarian Stefka Kostadinova in a jump-off, became Olympic champion. The bronze medal was won by Tamara Bykowa from the Soviet Union.

Heike Redetzky started for the Federal Republic of Germany who failed in the qualification.
Athletes from the GDR, Switzerland, Austria and Liechtenstein did not take part.

Title holder

Olympic champion 1984	Ulrike Meyfarth ( Federal Republic of Germany )	2.02 m	Los Angeles 1984
World Champion 1987	Stefka Kostadinowa ( Bulgaria )	2.09 m	Rome 1987
European champion 1986		2.00 m	Stuttgart 1986
Pan American Champion 1987	Coleen Sommer ( USA )	1.96 m	Indianapolis 1987
Central America and Caribbean Champion 1987	Mazel Thomas ( Jamaica )	1.81 m	Caracas 1987
South American Champion 1987	Orlane dos Santos ( Brazil )	1.80 m	São Paulo 1987
Asian champion 1987	Ni Xiuling ( People's Republic of China )	1.92 m	Singapore 1987
African champion in 1988	Lucienne N'Da ( Ivory Coast )	1.80 m	Annaba 1988

Existing records

World record	2.09 m	Stefka Kostadinowa ( Bulgaria )	Rome , Italy	August 30, 1987
Olympic record	2.02 m	Ulrike Meyfarth ( Federal Republic of Germany )	Los Angeles final , USA	August 10, 1984

qualification

Date: September 29, 1988

For the qualification, the athletes were drawn into two groups. The qualification height for direct entry into the final was 1.92 m. Since exactly twelve jumpers mastered this height, the final field was not filled any further.

Group A

space	Surname	nation	1.70 m	1.75 m	1.80 m	1.84 m	1.87 m	1.90 m	1.92 m	height	annotation
1	Kim Hee-sun	South Korea	-	O	O	O	O	O	O	1.92 m
2	Janet Boyle	Great Britain	-	O	O	O	xo	O	O	1.92 m
	Olga Turchak	Soviet Union	-	-	O	O	O	xo	O
4th	Maryse Éwanjé-Épée	France	-	O	O	xo	xo	xo	O	1.92 m
5	Stefka Kostadinova	Bulgaria	-	-	O	O	-	O	x o	1.92 m
6th	Heike Redetzky	BR Germany	-	-	O	-	O	O	xxx	1.90 m
7th	Vanessa Browne	Australia	-	O	O	xo	xxo	x o	xxx	1.90 m
8th	Jin Ling	People's Republic of China	-	O	O	O	O	xx o	xxx	1.90 m
9	Patricia King	United States	-	O	O	O	xxx			1.87 m
10	Cristina Fink	Mexico	-	O	O	xx o	xxx			1.87 m
11	Biljana Petrovic	Yugoslavia	O	xo	O	xxx				1.84 m
12	Lucienne N'Da	Ivory Coast	O	xx o	xxx					1.80 m

Group B

space	Surname	nation	1.70 m	1.75 m	1.80 m	1.84 m	1.87 m	1.90 m	1.92 m	height	annotation
1	Tamara Bykowa	Soviet Union	O	O	O	O	O	O	O	1.92 m
	Megumi Sato	Japan	-	-	O	O	O	O	O
3	Alina Astafei	Romania	-	O	O	xo	O	O	O	1.92 m
4th	Lyudmila Andonova	Bulgaria	-	-	O	O	O	O	x o	1.92 m
	Diana Davies	Great Britain	-	-	O	O	O	O	x o
6th	Louise Ritter	United States	-	-	-	O	xo	O	xx o	1.92 m
	Christine Stanton	Australia	-	-	xo	O	O	O	xx o
8th	Joanne Jennings	Great Britain	-	O	O	xo	xo	xx o	xxx	1.90 m
9	Ludmilla Avdejenko	Soviet Union	-	-	O	O	O	xxx		1.87 m
10	Coleen summer	United States	-	-	O	O	x o	xxx		1.87 m
11	Madely Beaugendre	France	-	O	xo	O	xxx			1.84 m
12	Chun-Yueh Su	Chinese Taipei	O	O	x o	xxx				1.80 m

final

Date: September 30, 1988

Twelve jumpers had qualified for the final on September 30th, all of whom had mastered the required level of qualification. In addition to two jumpers from the Soviet Union, two Bulgarians and two British women competed. The final field was completed with one participant each from Australia, France, Japan, Romania, South Korea and the USA.

The clear favorite was the world champion and world record holder Stefka Kostadinowa from Bulgaria. The biggest competitor was the vice world champion Tamara Bykowa from the USSR.

Seven of the twelve finalists were still in the race after jumping 1.93 m. Three were eliminated at the height of 1.96 m. Now Kostadinowa, Bykowa, Olga Turtschak from the USSR and the American Louise Ritter were in the competition. Apart from Turtschak, the remaining jumpers have not yet had a failed attempt. Kostadinowa, Turchak and Ritter took 1.96 m in the first attempt, Bykowa in the second. At 1.99 m, Olga Turtschak failed three times, so she finished fourth. Kostadinowa and Ritter crossed the bar with their first jumps, Bykowa in their third attempt. At the next height of 2.01 m, Bykowa failed and won the bronze medal. Ritter and Kostadinowa stayed in tune and also managed 2.01 m without missing jumps. 2.03 m was initially too high for both athletes, both tore three times each. They were still tied, up to 2.01 m they had no failed attempt.

Now a jump-off had to decide between gold and silver. According to the rules, the bar was again set to 2.03 m. Each athlete only had one attempt. The US athlete jumped the height the first time, Kostadinova failed her attempt. With this, Louise Ritter surprisingly became an Olympic champion and Stefka Kostadinowa remained the silver medal.

For the US, it was the seventh medal in the women's high jump , making it the most successful nation in the total number of medals in the discipline. In terms of Olympic victories, the USA was the leading nation with four victories.

space	Surname	nation	1.75 m	1.80 m	1.85 m	1.90 m	1.93 m	1.96 m	1.99 m	2.01 m	2.03 m	Sting 2.03	Bottom line	annotation
1	Stefka Kostadinova	Bulgaria	-	O	O	O	O	O	O	O	xxx	O	2.03 m	OR
2	Louise Ritter	United States	-	O	O	O	O	O	O	O	xxx	x	2.01 m
3	Tamara Bykowa	Soviet Union	-	O	O	O	O	xo	xx o	xxx			1.99 m
4th	Olga Turchak	Soviet Union	-	O	O	xo	O	O	xxx				1.96 m
5	Ludmila Andonova	Bulgaria	-	O	O	O	O	xxx					1.93 m
	Alina Astafei	Romania	O	O	O	O	O	xxx
7th	Christine Stanton	Australia	-	O	O	O	x o	xxx					1.93 m
8th	Diana Davies	Great Britain	-	O	O	O	xxx						1.90 m
	Kim Hee-sun	South Korea	-	O	O	O	xxx
10	Maryse Éwanjé-Épée	France	-	O	O	x o	xxx						1.90 m
11	Megumi Sato	Japan	-	O	O	xx o	xxx						1.90 m
12	Janet Boyle	Great Britain	-	O	xo	xx o	xxx						1.90 m

Web links

• SportsReference high jump , accessed February 1, 2018
• Official report on the Olympic Games in Seoul Volume two, part two , athletics results: p. 265, English / French (PDF, 25.64 MB), accessed on February 1, 2018

Video

• 1988 Olympics - Women's High Jump , published June 11, 2012 on youtube.com, accessed February 1, 2018

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Beijing 2015, page 798 , accessed on February 1, 2018
2. ↑ ^{a b} Official report on the Olympic Games in Seoul Volume two, part two , results in athletics: p. 265, English / French (PDF, 25.64 MB), accessed on February 1, 2018