Serbian ties world indoor masters HJ record! Not!
Now that I speak Italian, I move on to Slovak. Here’s a January 29 report from the SME newspaper of Slovakia of an indoor track meet in Budapest, Hungary: “BUDAPEŠŤ (Maďarsko): Bývalý majster Európy v skoku do výšky (1990 Split) 36-ročný Srb Dragutin Topič vyrovnal na halovom mítingu veteránsky svetový rekord v kategórii nad 35 rokov výkonom 227 cm. Zároveň splnil aj B-limit na OH 2008 v Pekingu.” Basically it says Serbian high jumper Dragutin Topic (pronounced Toppitch, I’m told) tied the masters world record with a 2.27 (7-5 1/4). (Results are also noted in this Hungarian report.) Of course, this is bogus. Yes, WMA lists the M35 indoor HJ record as 2.27 by Romanian Cristian Popescu in 1998. But the true record holder is an American.
So who is this obscure, little-recognized M35 jumper?
His name is Charles Austin, an American who I saw jump in a meet in Atlanta in the summer of 1996, when he missed the first two tries at a height, decided to pass, and then made the next height to take first place.
Yeah, this all happened at the Olympic Games.
Charles turned 35 in December 2002, and in March 2003, he jumped at a meet in Boston. He went 2.30 (7-6 1/2). But because M35 was approved at Puerto Rico worlds in summer 2003 and didn’t become an official masters age group for men until 2004, nobody took note. Or revisited the records.
And which trivial indoor meet did Charles go 2.30 in?
The USA open national indoor championships.
But that’s not news. I reported this in May 2006, to no avail obviously.
Meanwhile, the listed M35 American indoor high jump record remains 2.14 (7’0¼”) by Olympian Jim Barrineau at age 37 in March 1993. But even Jim considers this “record” — set at USATF masters nationals in Bozeman, Montana — a joke.
Time for a poll.
3 Responses
Olympic games – ha – probably poor timing, record keeping etc – who could possibly trust those records! Nah – no doubt the bar was not really set at the proper height.
I voted no because the results should be kept pure – tongue in cheek folks.
Meanwhile I am going to lower Buglowvena to set a couple of records at an all-comers meet where they will time me with a sundial.
keep up the good work Ken, glad to see you can read Hungarian as well Italian.
It would be nice to have real records. Performances at the World, European and National Championships should be accepted for Master Records without additional paperwork. Charli Austin is not going file some additional paperwork to please some grayheads. He has done enough – 230cm.
While Austin has the age group record record, Topic is 36 and might have the record for 36 and up.
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