Patrik Sjöberg

Patrik Sjöberg

Patrick Sjöberg 2011
Personal information
Full name	Jan Niklas Patrik Sjöberg
Born	(1965-01-05) 5 January 1965 (age 52) Gothenburg, Västra Götaland County
Height	2.00 m (6 ft 6.7 in)
Sport
Country	Sweden
Club	Örgryte IS
Retired	1999
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	2.42 m 2.41 m (indoors)
Medal record Men’s Athletics Olympic Games 1984 Los Angeles High jump 1992 Barcelona High jump 1988 Seoul High jump World Championships 1987 Rome High jump World Indoor Championships 1985 Paris High jump 1993 Toronto High jump 1989 Budapest High jump European Indoor Championships 1985 Athens High jump 1987 Lievin High jump 1988 Budapest High jump 1992 Genoa High jump

Jan Niklas Patrik Sjöberg (born 5 January 1965 in Gothenburg, Västra Götaland) is a former Swedish high jumper and previous world record holder. With 2.42 metres (7 ft 11.3 in), he holds the Swedish as well as the European record in men's high jump. His 1987 world record 2.42m - set in Stockholm on 30 June 1987 - is the fourth best in history, and only Javier Sotomayor and Mutaz Essa Barshim have achieved a higher jump. Sjöberg is also a two-time world indoor record holder with marks of 2.38m (1985) and 2.41m (1987).

Sjöberg has a gold medal from the World Championships in Rome 1987 and has three Olympic medals: silver medals from Los Angeles 1984 and Barcelona 1992, and a bronze medal from Seoul 1988. Sjöberg is the only high jumper to have won medals in more than two Olympic Games.

Sjöberg received the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal in 1985. He has inspired many later Swedish high jumpers, most notably Kajsa Bergqvist, Linus Thörnblad, Staffan Strand, and Stefan Holm. His world record of 2.42m was broken 15 months later, when, on the eve of the Seoul Summer Olympics, Javier Sotomayor jumped 2.43m in September 1988 at a meet in Spain.

In his 2011 autobiography, Sjöberg revealed that he had been sexually molested as a child by Viljo Nousiainen, a prominent Swedish athletics coach.