Sweden's Stefan Holm took the Olympic Games men's high jump gold medal after being the only man to go clear at 2.36 metres on Sunday.
Holm had been out of the medals prior to his winning jump, after requiring all three efforts at the previous height of 2.34m but, with the bar raised, he went clear at the first time of asking, just tickling the bar with his ankles. None of the other four men still in the competition could match the Swede.
United States' Matt Hemingway, a distant relation of the famous novelist, took the silver medal by virtue of having cleared all the heights up to and including 2.34m on his first attempt.
Jaroslav Baba took the bronze medal after also clearing 2.34m at his first attempt, but the Czech jumper had failures earlier in the competition. The United States' James Nieto missed out on a place on the medal podium and finished fourth because he needed two attempts to conquer 2.34m.
Filed by Barry J Whyte
