HAVANA, Sept 26, 2007 (AFP) - Cuba’s 2000 Olympic men’s long jump champion Ivan Pedroso has announced his retirement, newspaper Juventud Rebelde reported here Wednesday.
Pedroso, who turns 35 in December, won his specialist event in Sydney and also took the world title four consecutive times between 1995 and 2001.
He won five consecutive world indoor gold medals between 1993 and 2001 and also made the Olympic Games long jump final in 1992, 1996 and 2004 but didn’t take a medal.
He first came to international attention as a teenager in 1992 when he leapt 8.53m, the third furthest performance in the world that year.
In 1995, he had an altitude-assisted leap of 8.96m at a meeting in the ski resort of Sestriere, Italy, which was one centimetre in excess of the world record of 8.95m, which has been held by the American jumper Mike Powell since 1991.
However, the would-be world record was never ratified because officials were standing in front of the wind guage, meaning there could be no confirmation of the wind reading and assistance for Pedroso huge jump.
In recent years though, he has been plauged by injuries.
Pedroso’s last competition was in July at the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro where he finished fourth.
I always thought he would be the first to break 9m when in his prime. Regardless he had a great career, one of the best LJ of all time.
Wasn’t “that” Lewis’s jump over 9m in mid 80’s? Pity huh?