Steve Smith (British high jumper)

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Steve Smith Personal information
Nationality British
Born 29 March 1973 (age 44)
Sport
Sport Track and field
Event(s) High jump
Medal record
[hide]
Men's athletics
Representing United Kingdom
Olympic Games
Bronze medal third place 1996 Atlanta High jump
World Championships
Bronze medal third place 1993 Stuttgart High jump
World Indoor Championships
Bronze medal third place 1993 Toronto High jump
World Junior Championships
Gold medal first place 1992 Seoul High jump
European Championships
Silver medal second place 1994 Helsinki High jump
Representing England
Commonwealth Games
Silver medal second place 1994 Victoria High jump
Updated on 30 December 2014.

Steve Smith (born 29 March 1973) is a retired high jumper from England. 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).

Contents

1 Biography
2 Education
3 Achievements
4 References

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 Topic
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).

A four-time national champion for Great Britain (AAA Championships) in the men's
high jump event, 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, 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 he is now a director of a training company that uses
sport as an inspirational learning model.

Smith is now a motivational speaker with experience of working with corporate and
sporting organisations, in particular premier league football.
Education

He was educated at the all-boys' De La Salle School in Liverpool, England.

Achievements
Year Competition Venue Position Notes
Representing the United Kingdom 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