Javier Sotomayor

Javier Sotomayor is a Cuban former high jumper widely regarded as the greatest in the history of the event. He holds the world record of 2.45 m, making him the only person ever to have cleared eight feet. He first achieved this landmark in 1989 with a jump of 2.44 m and went on to clear eight feet twice in his career.

Sotomayor won the Olympic gold medal at the 1992 Barcelona Games and added a silver at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Cuban boycotts of the 1984 and 1988 Olympics, along with an injury in 1996, cost him chances at additional Olympic medals. He claimed two gold and two silver medals at the World Championships, four gold medals at the World Indoor Championships between 1989 and 1999, and three consecutive Pan American Games titles from 1987 to 1995.

As the dominant high jumper of the 1990s, Sotomayor's world record has stood since 1993 and remains one of the most enduring marks in all of athletics. He retired in 2001.