High Jump, Women

The American boycott had little effect on the competition as the best jumpers were the defending champion Rosemarie Ackermann (GDR) and Italy’s Sara Simeoni, the silver medalist in Montréal. Between 1974 and 1977, Ackermann set seven consecutive world records, topped by her performance at the ISTAF Meet in Berlin on 26 August 1977. On that day, she first jumped 1.97 (6-5½) and then became the first woman to jump two metres. But in August 1978, Simeoni broke that record, jumping 2.01 (6-7) twice, the second mark coming when she won the European Championships, defeating Ackermann in the process. These two were the heavy favorites, with Simeoni given a slight edge based on form earlier in 1980. In the final round, seven jumpers were alive after 1.91 metres (6-3¼), but only Simeoni, Urszula Kielan (POL), and Jutta Kirst (GDR) could get over 1.94 (6-4¼). Ackermann, jumping with an injured knee, missed at that height and finished out of the medals in fourth. Only Simeoni could get over 1.97 metres (6-5½), winning the gold medal, with Klein’s first-attempt clearance at 1.94 (6-4¼) bringing her the silver medal, as Kirst had missed once at that height.