Ivan Ukhov

One year later he improved to 2.30 (on 4 July 2005) at a meet in Tula, Russia, and he won the European Junior Championship in 2005 with a leap of 2.23/7-3¾.

Ivan Sergeyevich Ukhov (Иван Сергеевич Ухов; born 29 March 1986) is a Russian high jumper.

Ukhov immediately dropped the discus and began to learn proper high jump mechanics, he established a personal best of 2.15m on 28 June 2004.

He represented Russia at the 2004 IAAF World Junior Championships in Grosseto, Italy, but failed to qualify amongst the top 12 jumpers on 13 July, and did not make the finals.

He won the gold medal at the 2005 European Athletics Junior Championships (age 19 and under), held in Kaunas.

He was the only competitor to clear 2.23 m, and said afterwards "I feel a bit confused. I still can not believe that I am a winner."

Ukhov broke the record of 2.38, set in Sweden by Yaroslav Rybakov in February 2005.

Ukhov was pushed to the record in a tactical duel with (reigning World Indoor champion) Rybakov.

After each cleared 2.31, Rybakov took the lead with a first try clearance at 2.35.

Ukhov failed in his first attempt and, with second-place already assured, he elected to pass.

With the bar raised to 2.37, Ukhov flew over the bar on his first attempt, while Rybakov failed and decided to use his two remaining jumps at 2.39, One centimetre higher than his record of 2.38.

Rybakov did not succeed, but Ukhov once again thrilled the Moscow crowd with a first-try clearance, and then failed at 2.41.

The 2.39 effort ranked him tied for sixth place among the top indoor high jumpers of all time.

Ukhov's performances in 2006 confirmed that he was better indoors than outside.

On Monday 16 January 2006, jumping in the first leg of the Moravia High Jump Tour in Trinec, he won the competition with a first attempt clearance of 2.28, and was the only competitor who was really close at 2.30.

He achieved a personal best outdoor jump of 2.33 meters, in Langen, Germany (on 25 June 2006), and was named to the Russian team for the 19th European Athletics Championships held in Goteborg, Sweden in early August.

He qualified for the 12-man Finals with a jump of 2.23, but two days later, 9 August 2006, he could manage no better than 2.20 for equal last place.

Ukhov has broken the Russian national record indoors four times: jumping 2.39 meters on 28 January 2007 in Moscow; besting that with a 2.40 m jump on 25 February 2009 in Athens.

The 20-year-old Ukhov won all three of the meets he entered in January 2007, with heights of 2.30 or better.

At the annual Russian Winter Cup meet in Moscow, held on 28 January 2007 at the Vladimir Kutz Arena, the 20-year-old Ukhov elevated his personal best by 6 cm, jumping 2.39 to set a new Russian national record in the High Jump.

One week later, at the Arnstadt, Germany meet on 3 February 2007, Rybakov would win, tying his personal best of 2.38, while Ukhov finished fourth at 2.31.

In September 2008, Ukhov was not invited to the Grand Prix IAAF meetings, because of his intoxicated actions during the Athletissima competition in Lausanne held on 2 September.

There, he was found to have drunk Vodka and Red Bull prior to the competition, and was unable to make a valid jump.

The IAAF issued a strong warning to Ukhov in respect of his conduct: the IAAF did not suspend him, but he did not compete afterwards.

Pavel Voronkov, his manager, later said: "There's no denying that Ivan was drunk but he had a fight with his girlfriend and was also upset at failing to qualify for the Olympics. Obviously, Ivan regrets it very much and we have already reimbursed the organisers for all their expenses. He is still young and it should be a good lesson for him but a year ban would just completely destroy him as an athlete."

He returned to competition at the annual Moravia High Jump Tour in late January 2009.

Ukhov won both Tour events and outjumped all of his competitors, first jumping 2.33 on 21 January at Trinec, then bettered that with a 2.34 clearance at Hustopece on 24 January.

At the Athens indoor meeting on 25 February 2009, Ukhov cleared 2.40 m, setting a new national record and the world's best season mark.

He also improved his outdoor best on 25 July 2009 at the Russian National Championships in Cheboksary when he cleared 2.35 to win the event beating Yaroslav Rybakov, who cleared the same height.

He won a gold medal at the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships and is a two-time European Indoor champion (2009 and 2011).

He was also the silver medallist at the 2010 European Athletics Championships and the winner of the high jump at the inaugural 2010 IAAF Diamond League.

His leap of 2.40m (7 feet 10 1/2 inches) in 2009 made him the 11th man in history to jump 2.40 or better, and only four of those men have jumped higher (indoors and out); only three men have jumped higher indoors (Patrik Sjöberg, 2.41 in 1987; Carlo Thränhardt, 2.42 in 1988, and Javier Sotomayor, 2.43 in 1993).

Previously, in a July 2010 interview for BBC News, Ukhov – whom friends call Vanya – said his love of sports began at age 7 when his mother enrolled him in basketball: "After nine years of playing it I quarrelled with my coach and decided to take up a different, individual sport. I was quite big and chose discus, then at the age of 17 I tried the high jump. After training for about a year I set the Russian junior record and decided that it would be easier to carry on jumping than discus", he said.

The 2.40 mark (7 ft 10 1/2in) also made him the equal-fifth highest jumper in the history of the sport.

In the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, he won the gold medal, but it was later stripped for a doping violation.

His best outdoor effort, 2.39 m, was set in Cheboksary on 5 July 2012.

Ukhov gave an interview for an IAAF news report in May 2013, while "training" with a Moscow-area basketball team.

In between dunks, he said, "I played basketball for about 10 years, between the ages of seven and 16 for my school team. I became the best player in my town and region."

In a May 2014 interview Ukhov further elaborated that, in his first year of throwing the discus he did well enough to compete at the Russian Junior Championships in 2004.

At that meet he (somehow) entered the High Jump and with no coaching he won by clearing 2.12 meters (6 feet, 11½ inches).