World Record: 1.97m - Michael Sweeney (USA), New York (USA), September 21, 1895
Olympic Record: 1.90m - Irving Baxter (USA), Paris (FRA), July 15, 1900
Porter had been the best US jumper in the series of American selection
meetings, jumping 1.88, and was co-favourite with 1906 champion
Leahy. The 22 athletes were divided into four pools of jumpers with
qualifying marks counting for the final result. While Leahy and Porter
were expected to do well, Somodi and André were not; yet both men
set national records, André improved from 1.79 to 1.80, 1.83, 1.85 and
finally 1.88. The 1.88/87kg Frenchman was built heroically, and both
in sports (he competed for France for nearly 20 years and was a rugby
international) and in life (he escaped from a German POW camp in
World War One) he was indeed a hero.
Under current rules André would have been fourth with Leahy sec-
ond and Somodi third. Porter, almost as impressive physically as André
at 1.89/84kg was the only man to clear 1.905 and he went on to try a
world record of 1.975. A month after the Games Leahy jumped 1.953
to head the world rankings for 1908. Somodi, a small jumper
(1.75/68kg) was over 1.905 on his final attempt, but dislodged the bar
with his hand.
United States
France
Hungary
Great Britain
Sweden
Canada
Norway
Belgium
Finland
Netherlands
