Steve Smith (British high jumper)

Steve Smith

Personal information
Nationality	British (English)
Born	(1973-03-29) 29 March 1973 Liverpool, England
Height	185 cm (6 ft 1 in)
Weight	70 kg (154 lb)
Sport
Sport	Track and field
Event	High jump
Club	Liverpool Harriers
Medal record Men's athletics Representing Great Britain Olympic Games 1996 Atlanta High jump World Championships 1993 Stuttgart High jump World Indoor Championships 1993 Toronto High jump World Junior Championships 1992 Seoul High jump European Championships 1994 Helsinki High jump Representing England Commonwealth Games 1994 Victoria High jump

James Stephenson Smith (born 29 March 1973) is a British retired high jumper, who competed at two Olympic Games. Smith's indoor mark of 2.38 metres and his outdoor mark of 2.37 metres are British records in the high jump (7 feet 9 and three-quarter inches, and 7 feet 9 and one-half inches, respectively).

Biography

Smith was born in Liverpool, and trained there throughout his career under coach Mike Holmes. Standing 1.85 meters tall (6 ft. 1 inch), Smith is considered "small" in comparison to most world-class high jumpers. He jumps off his left leg. He first emerged as a talented jumper in 1990, when he cleared 2.25 (7 ft 4 inches) at a British national meet in Gateshead. In 1991, he improved to 2.29, and then had his "breakout" year in 1992, improving his best by an astonishing 8 centimetres. He qualified for the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona and reached the finals, finishing in 12th place with a disappointing height of only 2.24. One month after those Olympics, he competed at the 1992 World Junior Championships, where he won, and equalled the junior world record of 2.37 metres (outdoors), which Dragutin Topić had achieved in 1990. Smith equalled this result twice more (once indoors and once outdoors.) He established his personal best of 2.38, set indoors at Wuppertal, Germany, on 4 February 1994, which still stands as the British record.

He was a bronze medalist at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, the first British man to win a medal in the high jump since Con Leahy in 1908. He did it with just 5 jumps: eight men cleared 2.32, but only three (Smith, Poland's Artur Partyka and American Charles Austin) successfully jumped 2.35. With their medals secured, all 3 missed their initial attempts at 2.37, Partyka then cleared on his second attempt, and Smith and Austin passed for final attempts at 2.39 which only Charles Austin cleared (for a new Olympic record).

Smith was a five-time British high jump champion after winning the British AAA Championships title in 1992, 1995, 1996 and 1999 and by virtue of being the highest placed British athlete in 1993.

Smith retired after rupturing his Achilles tendon in 1999 (a year in which he was still jumping 2.36 outdoors). During his career, Smith leaped 2.36 (7 ft 9 inches) or better at nine different competitions. While his performance at the 1996 Olympics stands as the capstone, his best year was 1993 when he placed third at both the IAAF World Championships Indoors (Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on 14 March) and Outdoors (Stuttgart, Germany, on 22 August), jumping 2.37 at both meets.

Shortly after he retired from competition, he opened a restaurant in his hometown of Liverpool in 2000 and in 2004 founded Raise the Bar, a corporate training and apprenticeship business that works with global brands.

Education

Smith was educated at the all-boys' De La Salle School in Liverpool.

Achievements

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Notes
Representing Great Britain and England
1990	World Junior Championships	Plovdiv, Bulgaria	15th (q)	2.10 m
1992	World Junior Championships	Seoul, South Korea	1st	2.37 m WJR
1993	World Indoor Championships	Toronto, Canada	3rd	2.37 m PB
	World Championships	Stuttgart, Germany	3rd	2.37 m =PB
1994	European Championships	Helsinki, Finland	2nd	2.33 m
	Commonwealth Games	Victoria, Canada	2nd	2.32 m
1995	World Championships	Gothenburg, Sweden	4th	2.35 m
1996	Olympic Games	Atlanta, United States	3rd	2.35 m
1997	World Indoor Championships	Paris, France	6th	2.25 m

References

• Steve Smith at World Athletics
• Profile at The Power of Ten
• Steve Smith at Raise the Bar

External links

• Steve Smith at Power of 10
• Steve Smith at Team GB
• Steve Smith at Olympics.com