Robert Grabarz
Robbie Grabarz at the 2012 European Athletics Championships in Helsinki
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| Nationality | British | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 3 October 1987 Enfield, Greater London, England |
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| Height | 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 80 kg (176 lb; 12 st 8 lb)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | High jump | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Robert "Robbie" Karl Grabarz (born 3 October 1987) is a British high jumper.
Contents
Biography[edit]
Grabarz was born in Enfield, England. He attended Crosshall Junior School and Longsands College in St Neots, Cambridgeshire and started a foundation degree programme with Loughborough College in 2006. He finished twelfth at the 2006 World Junior Championships and competed at the 2011 European Indoor Championships, finishing 23rd and failing to reach the final.[2][3] Grabarz subsequently failed to qualify for the 2011 World Championships in Athletics and lost his National Lottery funding.[3]
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."[4] He secured financial help from 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."[5]
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.[6] His previous best was 2.28m and the jump saw him pass the Olympic 'A' qualifying standard.[4] In June, Grabarz won gold at the European Athletics Championships with a jump of 2.31m.[7] He followed this up at the 2012 London Olympics in August, by clearing 2.29 metres in the final to win a bronze medal.[8] 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.[3][9][5]
His personal best jump is 2.37 metres, a mark set at the Lausanne Diamond League meeting on 23 August 2012, equalling the British men's outdoor record held by Steve Smith since 1992.[3]
Ancestry[edit]
Grabarz's unusual surname comes from Grabarz's grandfather, Ernst Karl Grabarz (1934–2001), who was Polish.[10]
Achievements[edit]
| Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Representing |
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| 2005 | European Junior Championships | Kaunas, Lithuania | 18th (q) | 2.05 m |
| 2006 | World Junior Championships | Beijing, China | 12th | 2.05 m |
| 2009 | European U23 Championships | Kaunas, Lithuania | 11th | 2.18 m |
| 2011 | European Indoor Championships | Paris, France | 23rd (q) | 2.12 m |
| 2012 | World Indoor Championships | Istanbul, Turkey | 6th | 2.31 m |
| European Championships | Helsinki, Finland | 1st | 2.31 m | |
| Olympic Games | London, United Kingdom | 3rd | 2.29 m | |
| 2013 | European Indoor Championships | Gothenburg, Sweden | 6th | 2.23 m |
| World Championships | Moscow, Russia | 8th | 2.29 m | |
| 2014 | World Indoor Championships | Sopot, Poland | 11th (q) | 2.25 m |
| 2015 | World Championships | Beijing, China | 18th (q) | 2.26 m |
Diamond League wins[edit]
- 2012 - Rome & Birmingham
- Won the 2012 Overall Diamond Race High Jump title
References[edit]
- ^ a b "Robert Grabarz". 2012 Summer Olympics official site. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
- ^ Robert Grabarz profile at IAAF
- ^ a b c d Hart, Simon (2012-08-26). "Robbie Grabarz looking to follow Olympic high jump bronze with bumper pay-day". The Telegraph. Retrieved 2012-08-30.
- ^ a b "London 2012: Robbie Grabarz makes Olympic 'sacrifice'". BBC Sport. 2012-03-06. Retrieved 2012-08-30.
- ^ a b "London 2012: Robbie Grabarz will need 'unbelievable' rivals". BBC Sport. 2012-06-07. Retrieved 2012-08-30.
- ^ Bock, Peter (21 January 2012). "2,34-Meter-Satz besiegelt das Ende in Wuppertal" (in German). DLV.
- ^ "Robbie Grabarz and Rhys Williams win European gold". BBC Sport. 2012-07-29. Retrieved 2012-08-30.
- ^ "Olympics high jump: Robbie Grabarz wins bronze for GB". BBC Sport. 7 August 2012. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
- ^ "Grabarz Takes Diamond Crown". Team GB. 2012-08-30. Retrieved 2012-08-30.
- ^ Turnbull, Simon (26 January 2012). "Britain's Robbie Grabarz on top of the world despite losing Lottery". The Independent.
External links[edit]
Media related to Robbie Grabarz at Wikimedia Commons
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- 1987 births
- Living people
- British high jumpers
- English people of Polish descent
- Male high jumpers
- People from Enfield Town
- Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics
- Olympic athletes of Great Britain
- Olympic medalists in athletics (track and field)
- Olympic bronze medallists for Great Britain
- Sportspeople from London
- European Athletics Championships medalists
- Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics
- English high jumpers
- World Championships in Athletics athletes for Great Britain