Stefan Christian Holm is a retired Swedish high jumper. He won an Olympic gold medal, a silver in the World Championships, and one silver and one bronze medal in the European Championships. His personal records are 2.37 m and 2.40 m. Clearing the bar 59 centimeters over his own height, he currently holds the world record for height differential, held jointly with American Franklin Jacobs.
Stefan Holm during the Swedish Sports Awards inside the Stockholm Globe Arena in January 2014
The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat for landing. Since ancient times, competitors have introduced increasingly effective techniques to arrive at the current form, and the current universally preferred method is the Fosbury Flop, in which athletes run towards the bar and leap head first with their back to the bar.
Canadian high jumper Nicole Forrester demonstrating the Fosbury flop
Yelena Slesarenko hitting the bar while using the Fosbury Flop technique
Konstantinos Tsiklitiras during the standing high jump competition at the 1912 Summer Olympics
Gold medal winner Ethel Catherwood of Canada scissors over the bar at the 1928 Summer Olympics. Her winning result was 1.59 m (5 ft 2+1⁄2 in).