Slesarenko jumps to women’s high jump record

Yelena Slesarenko, of Russia, cleared an Olympic record height of 2.06 metres to take the Olympic women’s high jump tonight.

Slesarenko, whose biggest success prior to this season was third in the 2003 World Student Games, was flawless until the bar was put up to world record of 2.10 metres and she had three fouls.

Hestrie Cloete, of South Africa, won the silver medal for the second successive Games, clearing 2.02 metres. Viktoria Styopina, of Ukraine, cleared the same height as Cloete, the reigning world champion, but was placed third as she had failures earlier in the competition.

However, Styopina was delighted with her bronze despite just missing out on going one step further up the podium, as she added two centimetres to her previous best.