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Internet laughing stock to top of the worldPublished by
When footage of drunken high-jumper Ivan Ukhov appeared on YouTube last year, it generated more than a million hits in a week. Though it's doubtful if international athletics broadcasters will consider it an option at a Berlin seminar next week. The world laughed at the Russian's antics at the Athletissima grand prix in Lausanne last summer. He got his feet fankled in his tracksuit bottoms and swatted at an official who attempted to intervene before finally diving under the bar at the opening height. Clearly, he had visited the bar a few times earlier, but few are laughing at him now. Ukhov won the European indoor title this spring, and has since cleared 2.40 metres in Piraeus, a Russian record which tops the world indoor rankings. Remarkably, he did so wearing long jump spikes, without heel support.Only four athletes have gone higher indoors or out, and none since 1994, when Cuban world record-holder Javier Sotomayor reached ..... read more at...
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