Stefka Kostadinova

Stefka Kostadinova is a Bulgarian former high jumper who won Olympic gold in 1996 and set the women’s outdoor high jump world record of 2.09 metres in 1987.

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1987 World Championships in Athletics: The second World Athletics Championships, held in Rome in 1987. Kostadinova cleared 2.09 metres there, setting the women’s outdoor world record.
High jump: A track-and-field event in which athletes leap over a horizontal bar without dislodging it. It is the event in which Kostadinova set her world record and won Olympic gold.
Lyudmila Andonova: A Bulgarian high jumper who held the women’s outdoor world record at 2.07 metres from 1984 to 1987. Kostadinova broke her compatriot’s world record in 1987.
World Athletics: The international governing body for track and field, cross country, road running, and race walking. It recognizes and maintains the official women’s high jump world record.
1996 Summer Olympics: The Summer Olympic Games held in Atlanta, Georgia. Kostadinova won the women’s high jump and her only Olympic gold medal there.
Fosbury Flop: A high-jump technique in which the athlete crosses the bar back-first, arching the body over it. Kostadinova used this technique to clear the bar efficiently.
Yordanka Blagoeva: A Bulgarian high jumper who set the women’s world record in 1972 and won Olympic silver in 1972. Her earlier records established Bulgaria’s prominence in women’s high jump before Kostadinova.
Women’s high jump world record: The officially ratified best performance in the women’s high jump. Kostadinova’s 2.09-metre mark has remained the outdoor record since 1987.
1992 Summer Olympics: The Summer Olympic Games held in Barcelona, Spain. She took silver in the high jump, narrowly missing the Olympic title before Atlanta.
Center of mass: The point representing the average position of an object's mass. High jumpers can pass their bodies over the bar while their center of mass travels below it.