Robert Grabarz
Robbie Grabarz at the 2012 European Athletics Championships in Helsinki
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| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | British |
| Born |
3 October 1987 Enfield, Greater London, England |
| Height | 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) |
| Weight | 80 kg (176 lb; 12 st 8 lb) |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Athletics |
| Event(s) | High jump |
Robert "Robbie" Karl Grabarz (born 3 October 1987) is a British high jumper. He is the 2012 Olympic bronze medalist.
Grabarz was born in Enfield, England. His grandfather, Ernst Karl Grabarz (1934–2001), emigrated to England from Poland. Robbie attended Crosshall Junior School and Longsands College in St Neots, Cambridgeshire and started a foundation degree programme with Loughborough College in 2006.
Grabarz finished twelfth at the 2006 World Junior Championships and competed at the 2011 European Indoor Championships, finishing 23rd and failing to reach the final. Grabarz subsequently failed to qualify for the 2011 World Championships in Athletics and lost his National Lottery funding.
After this string of poor performances and funding loss, Grabarz "realised I didn't want that disappointment to happen again and I realised it was my decision to make it not happen again." He moved to Birmingham to train and "make a fresh start so I could give 100% of what I have to offer." He secured financial help from the Ron Pickering Memorial Fund and BackleyBlack, the company run by former athletes Steve Backley and Roger Black. His coach Fuzz Ahmed commented: "If I hadn't found him backing and if he didn't have a credit card, I would have funded him, because that's how much I believed in him. I recognised he had matured into a person that wanted to be a world class high jumper, rather than somebody who was just a very good high jumper."
2012 saw a much improved Grabarz. In January 2012 he made his international breakthrough by jumping 2.34 metres at an indoor high jump gala in Wuppertal. His previous best was 2.28m and the jump saw him pass the Olympic 'A' qualifying standard. In June, Grabarz won gold at the European Athletics Championships with a jump of 2.31m. He followed this up at the 2012 London Olympics in August, by clearing 2.29 metres in the final to win a bronze medal. After victories in the Rome and Birmingham Diamond League events, Grabarz took the overall 2012 IAAF Diamond League high jump crown, winning the Diamond Trophy and $40,000 prize money.
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