Athletics at the 2000 Sydney Summer Games:

Favored was 1999 World Champion Vyacheslav Voronin (RUS) who had the best jump of the year (2.40 (7-10½)) and had won 14 of 20 meets in 2000. Defending champion Charles Austin was back and considered a medal contender. Also returning, and controversially, was Cuban super jumper Javier Sotomayor, the 1992 gold medalist. In 1999, Soto tested positive for cocaine at the Pan-American Games and was given a two-year suspension. But the IAAF reinstated him just before the Olympics, allowing him to compete. In the final seven jumpers got over 2.32 (7-7¼). But of those, only Russian Sergey Klyugin succeeded at 2.35 (7-8½) and that earned him the gold medal. Soto had no misses thru 2.32 (7-7¼) which earned him the silver medal.