Sotomayor’s high jump record turns 25
havana — At 10 years old he was afraid of heights but four decades later, Javier Sotomayor is on top of the world, celebrating the 25th anniversary of his high jump world record.
It was July 27, 1993 in Salamanca, Spain. Sotomayor had already set new records of 2.43 metres and then 2.44m but this time, he went higher still: 2.45m.
A quarter of a century later, that record still stands, but Sotomayor’s reign as the greatest in his discipline has been even longer, dating back to his first world record five years earlier, also in Salamanca.
“People are talking about the 25th anniversary of my world record, but for me it’s been 30 years that I’m the record-holder,” the 50-year-old told AFP at his home in Havana.
“Because if I hadn’t beaten my own record, it would be 30 years old! No-one’s beaten the 2.43m I jumped in 1988.”
Only one man, Qatari world champion Mutaz Barshim, has ever equalled it, in Brussels four years ago.
What remains the most incredible aspect of Sotomayor’s achievement is that high jumping didn’t come naturally. First and foremost, he needed to overcome his fears.
“At 10 years old, I was afraid of heights, at 14 I started to be convinced I could be a great high-jumper. Since then, I set very ambitious goals,” said the 1.96m tall Cuban.
“Fear is lost through practice, through application. I was given exercises where I had to jump from more than two metres, even three metres, onto a crash mat — sort of acrobatics.
“Later, when I was in Havana, with my coach and psychologist, little by little I got over my fear of heights.”
The last step, once he had started competing at the top level, was to take up parachuting.
Sotomayor went on to enjoy a sterling career filled with success and glory.
Olympic champion in 1992, world champion in 1993 and 1997, four-time indoor world champion and three-time PanAmerican Games gold medallist, the list of his achievements seems endless.
But what was perhaps most impressive was that his pomp took place at a time when Cuba had very little history in athletics, even less so in the field events, and while the country was suffering an economic crisis after the fall of the Soviet Union. —