Women’s High Jump
There was a surprise in the women’s high jump when the 21 year Bulgarian Khristina Kalcheva cleared a personal best 1.99 to win the title won by Stefka Kostadinova in Paris. Kalcheva, inspired by the earlier silver medal of another Bulgarian Rotislav Dimitrov in the men’s triple jump, was the only woman to clear that height. The silver medal went to another East European, Zuzan Kovacikova-Hlavonova of the Czech Republic, who had faultless 1st time clearances right up until 1.96. Tisha Waller of the USA, had also been impressive at earlier heights but only cleared 1.96 on her third attempt. So she lost the silver on count back to the Czech. Romania’s Monica Iagar-Dinescu, who had cleared 2.03 this season, was clearly ill at ease and cleared 1.93 only on her second attempt before failing three times at 1.96.
Gold Medallist - KALCHEVA Khristina (BUL)
"To tell you the truth, I did not expect to jump above 1.96. I was a little
surprised by my result, but Dimitrov's performance (Rostislav-triple jump) inspired me.
This is Bulgaria's second medal on the first day, but I can promise you there is more to
come."
Silver Medallist - KOVACIKOVA-HLAVONOV (CZE)
"I am not very happy with my technique. I tried to jump everything on the first
attempt and did not hold anything back.
At first I did not think 1.96 would be good enough for a medal, but as we entered the end of the competition, it became obvious that it would suffice. I thought the other girls would jump 1.99 or more. I must admit I thought that Iagar-Dinescu (ROM) was not very well during the warmup for the event. Anyway I gave everything I had and was pleased with so many first attempt successes."
Bronze Medallist - WALLER Tisha (USA)
"I had to jump with my short approach because of the short runup. That was
something I knew of and I just had to adjust with it. I think we all had similar problems.
I was ready to jump 1.99 even with the short approach, but I am not making any excuses. I am still happy with the bronze."
