Athletics at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Men's high jump

Did You Know?

• Barshim's silver was Qatar's fifth Olympic medal in any event, and the first better than bronze.
• Bondarenko's bronze was Ukraine's first medal in the men's high jump.
• Drouin was the ninth man to win multiple medals in the high jump, after his 2012 silver.

Background

This was the 28th appearance of the event, one of 12 athletics events held at every Summer Olympics. Returning finalists from 2012 included gold medalist Erik Kynard, silver medalists Derek Drouin, Robert Grabarz, and Mutaz Essa Barshim, sixth-place finisher Bohdan Bondarenko, seventh-place Michael Mason, eighth-place Andriy Protsenko, and twelfth-place Kyriakos Ioannou. The 2012 champion Ivan Ukhov was absent due to the Russian team's doping ban; he would later be stripped of that gold medal. Italy's Gianmarco Tamberi, ranked second in the world and winner of the 2016 World Indoor Championships, missed the Games through injury. Top-ranked Barshim had jumped 2.43 m in 2014, the second-highest clearance in history. Drouin, ranked third in 2016, was the 2015 world champion. Other qualifiers included Bondarenko, Zhang Guowei, Kynard, and Donald Thomas. San Marino made its debut; the United States made its 27th appearance.

Summary

Forty-four athletes competed in qualification; eleven cleared 2.29 m to advance, with four more advancing at 2.26 m. The final opened at 2.20 m. Two men failed at 2.25 m, and three more were eliminated at 2.29 m. Six athletes remained clean through 2.29 m, though Bondarenko passed at that height. At 2.33 m, five cleared on first attempt; Barshim, Drouin, and Bondarenko stayed clean, while Grabarz and Protsenko also cleared but had earlier misses. Kynard needed three attempts at 2.33 m. At 2.36 m, Barshim and Drouin remained perfect; Grabarz, Protsenko, and Kynard could not advance, and Bondarenko passed. With three men guaranteed medals, the bar rose to 2.38 m. Drouin cleared on his first attempt; Barshim failed three times and was eliminated. Bondarenko failed twice and passed his third attempt, hoping to clear 2.40 m for the lead. He failed at 2.40 m, and Drouin won gold. Drouin attempted 2.40 m for an Olympic record but failed and retired. Barshim took silver, Bondarenko bronze. Medals were presented by Samih Moudallal of Syria, gifts by Dahlan Al Hamad.

Qualification

A National Olympic Committee could enter up to three qualified athletes if all met the entry standard of 2.29 m during the qualifying period from 1 May 2015 to 11 July 2016. Both indoor and outdoor meets were accepted. NOCs could also use a universality place to enter one male athlete if they had no male athletes meeting the entry standard.

Competition format

The competition had two rounds: qualification and final. In each round, athletes had three attempts per height and were eliminated after three consecutive failures. Those who cleared the qualifying height advanced; if fewer than 12 did so, the best 12 advanced. Cleared heights reset for the final, which followed the same format until all but the winner had three consecutive failures.