Three World Records that were unattainable. He was retired at the age of 20, he passed away at the age of 40, and he was just 19 years old when he broke these records.
This is Yashchenko, Vladimir. Back in 1971, following an eight-year break in world records for the high jump, a 1 centimeter improvement to 2.29 meters marked the end of the straddle high leaping style.
Athletes quickly adapted to the Fosbury Flop, a technique designed to be more efficient and allow users to clear higher bars while jumping the same height, and over the next four years, USA's Dwight Stones broke three new wood records. This signaled the beginning of a new era in jumping.
In addition, he had a highly prosperous career that included two 2.31- and 2.32-meter leaps. After being stationary for over a decade, four new world records were set in five years, ushering in a new age of jumping known as the high jump Renaissance.
That is, until we present Vladimir Yashchenko, our teenage Ukrainian representative for the Soviet Union. At the age of 18, he broke the world record by physically starting at new heights and jumping 2.33 meters while utilizing an inferior straddle technique.
Amazingly, at the age of 19, he repeats the feat, evolving quicker than any other jumper by employing an actual superior approach. He made it even better the second time, producing what is arguably one of the greatest high-jumping feats in human history.
Even at the age of 19, he was able to advance the world record by ten years while the sport was regressing.
In all honesty, it's almost unbelievable how amazing this single youngster was achieving with the record, which had been stationary for eight years. He broke through the barrier, which required one of the biggest inventions in sporting history.
In contrast, imagine if an 18-year-old sprinter broke Usain Bolt's world record on a cinder track twice in quick succession, making Bolt appear like a complete clown.
Despite demonstrating his absolute dominance over the sport, Vladimir Yashchenko is still regarded as one of the biggest wastes in sports history because, at the age of 19, he suffered a knee injury so horrific that a fellow competitor vomited upon witnessing the damage.
Whether it was the severity of the injury or the state of technology at the time, he lived his later years on a small government pension provided to Ukrainian sporting heroes.
However, it was said that because of his frustrations and the lingering pain from his injuries, he became an alcoholic, and by the time he was 40 years old, he had passed away from liver disease. As a result, it seems that all of my favorite high jumpers are also alcoholics.
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