Barshim most likely to break my record, says Sotomayor

As the 25th anniversary of his high jump record approaches, Cuban world record holder Javier Sotomayor reiterated that he only sees Qatari world champion Mutaz Essa Barshim beating his 2.45m mark.
“If I had to give a name for the person most likely to break the record, it’s (Barshim),” said the Cuban, who is the only one ever to jump an 8-plus feet height.
But who knew that as a 10-year-old, Sotomayor was afraid of heights.
It was July 27, 1993, in Salamanca, Spain. Sotomayor had already set new records of 2.43m and then 2.44m but this time, he went higher still: 2.45m.
A quarter of a century later, that record still stands, but Sotomayor’s reign as the greatest in his discipline has been even longer, dating back to his first world record five years earlier, also in Salamanca.
“People are talking about the 25th anniversary of my world record, but for me it’s been 30 years that I’m the record-holder,” the 50-year-old told AFP at his home in Havana.
“Because if I hadn’t beaten my own record, it would be 30 years old! No one’s beaten the 2.43m I jumped in 1988.”
Only one man, Barshim, has ever equalled it, in Brussels four years ago. What remains the most incredible aspect of Sotomayor’s achievement is that high jumping didn’t come naturally. First and foremost, he needed to overcome his fears.
“At 10 years old, I was afraid of heights, at 14 I started to be convinced I could be a great high-jumper. Since then, I set very ambitious goals,” said the 1.96m tall Cuban.
“Fear is lost through practice, through application. I was given exercises where I had to jump from more than two meters, even three meters, onto a crash mat — sort of acrobatics.
“Later, when I was in Havana, with my coach and psychologist, little by little I got over my fear of heights.”
The last step, once he had started competing at the top level, was to take up parachuting.

Giving joy to the people
Sotomayor went on to enjoy a sterling career filled with success and glory.
Olympic champion in 1992, world champion in 1993 and 1997, four-time indoor world champion and three-time Pan-American Games gold medallist, the list of his achievements seems endless.
But what was perhaps most impressive was that his pomp took place at a time when Cuba had very little history in athletics, even less so in the field events, and while the country was suffering an economic crisis after the fall of the Soviet Union.
“I had my best moments at a time when Cuba needed it the most,” he said.
“I was able to give joy to the people. My people were behind me. What I gave to the people and they gave back went hand in hand.”
Now secretary of the Cuban athletics federation, Sotomayor enjoys watching others attempt to break his near-mythical mark.
Co-European record-holder Bohdan Bondarenko of Ukraine cleared 2.42m in June 2014 but three months later Barshim went a centimetre higher.
“It’s not that I would celebrate someone breaking my world record, but I’ve always been convinced: for the last 30 years I’ve known that one day someone will jump higher,” Sotomayor said.