© Stade de France ®
Macary, Zublena et Regembal
Costantini - Architects
ADAGP - Paris - 2002
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COMPETITION  RETRO |
 Rome 1987 - KOSTADINOVA: LONG HIGH JUMP FAME
Paris 2003 Saint-Denis
The World Championships in Athletics of 1987 are remembered for the first of Ben Johnson’s now infamous showdowns with Carl Lewis. Johnson broke the world record that day, but connoisseurs of field athletics will remember another altogether longer-lasting achievement; Stefka Kostadinova’s life-changing leap of 2.09 metres in the women’s high jump.
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| Olympic Games, Atlanta 1996 Vandystadt |
Stefka Kostadinova was head and shoulders above the rest of the field even before the start of proceedings in Rome. She had recently won the World Indoors in Indianapolis and had been world record holder since 1985, when she cleared 2.06 metres in the European Cup. Her two main rivals were Russians Tamara Bykova and Lyudmila Andonova, both former world record holders themselves, but by 1987 they had lost some of their spring, and the exciting new generation of jumpers led by Henkel and Astafei were still lacking experience of the greatest stage. The all-conquering Bulgarian was not expected to be troubled then, and with the media focussing all its attention on the men’s 100 metres (the women’s high jump had only been mentioned in dispatches), the lack of pressure may help explain her relaxed approach to the competition – and the world record mark that still stands today.
Qualifying hiccup
Things did not go quite as planned in qualifying though, Kostadinova taking two jumps to clear the 1,91 metres needed to take her through to the final. The slip-up by the girl from Sofia gave hope to the likes of West German Heike Henkel and American Louise Ritter, who both looked in fine form. Kostadinova appeared strangely out of kilter, unable to combine lift-off with clearance to typical devastating effect.
The next day though, as the final began, Kostadinova did not appear unduly concerned by her rusty performance the previous evening. She immediately threw caution to the wind, adopting a more aggressive jumping style than usual, upping her speed on the approach and placing greater than usual emphasis on forward impetus rather than pure jumping power.
The need for speed
Kostadinova’s tactic worked; not only did she find her own rhythm quickly, her untypical style clearly unnerved her opponents. The young pretenders were the first to crack; Ritter and Henkel had obviously put more into their qualifying leaps than they thought and only cleared 1.93 metres and 1,96 metres respectively before bowing out. Reigning world champion Bykova was in better shape, clearing 2.04 metres to push Kostadinova up to world-class heights, but the Russian dropped out at 2.06 metres, and Stefka was left to turn her attention to the world record. She had first set a new world mark of 2.07 metres alongside Luydmila Antonova on 25 May 1986, before taking the record 1cm higher just one week later.
Her hour of glory
Sure of her gold medal, the Bulgarian asked for the bar to be raised to 2.09 metres. She crashed into the bar at her first attempt, and her second was even less promising, but Kostadinova was not to be denied her moment of glory. With a final legendary leap, she cleared the bar, celebrated with her trademark somersault, and the crowd leapt to its feet as one in recognition of the new world champion’s history-making achievement. If the mass hysteria hardly matched that which followed the 100m final later that evening, Kostadinova can look back with fond memories on her fleeting moment of celebrity, proud of the fact that her new world record has lasted far longer than Johnson’s.
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