It’s time to separate fact from fiction. Ever since Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson graced shared their basketball skills on screen, the phrase “White men can’t jump”has been an assumption in society. It goes a bit further to assume that the best jumpers or even athletes in the world are of black heritage.
There are many elite athletes that are black, but there are so many athletes of all ethnicities and backgrounds that have also dominated at the elite level. Saying white men can’t jump is a lie and simply isn’t true.
It doesn’t matter if you are white, black, Asian or anything else. As long as you have leg muscles, you will have some jumping abilities. You can develop your leg muscles and your high jumping technique to reach your maximum height in the high jump.
You might hear the argument that the world record holder Javier Sotomayor from Cuba was black. Yes he was. But the world record holder before him was a white. Patrick Solbjerg from Sweden. If you look at the list of high jumpers that have performed at the elite level, you will see successful athletes from all around the globe.
Here’s a list of videos of some of the most incredible high jumpers to have graced the Earth from all different ethnic backgrounds.
Bohdan Bondarenko – Ukraine
Personal best – 2.42m
Patrick Solbjerg – Sweden
Personal best – 2.42m
Stefan Holm – Sweden
Personal best – 2.40m
Ivan Ukhov – Russia
Personal best – 2.41m
Igor Paklin – USSR/Kyrgystan
Personal best – 2.41
Artur Partyka – Poland
Personal best – 2.37m
Carlo Thrandhardt – Former west Germany
Personal best – 2.42m
Steve Smith – United Kingdom
Personal best – 2.37m
Dragutin Topic – Yugoslavia
Personal best – 2.37m (World junior record)
Jianhua Zhu – China
Personal best – 2.39m
Are there any other high jumpers who you think should be added to the list? Leave them in the comment section below.
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