Thomas soars to gold in men's high jump

OSAKA — Mankind has always had a desire to soar to new heights. The U.S. astronauts' historic 1969 trip to the moon is the prime example.

Bahama's Donald Thomas attempts a jump in the final of the men's high jump on Wednesday evening at Osaka's Nagai Stadium. Thomas won with a personal best-equaling jump of 2.35 meters. AP PHOTO

In sports the best illustration is this: the victorious jumper, a person who sprints, twists his body, catapults himself backward over a horizontal bar and lands on his back. Think of it as reverse limbo contest — but multiply the difficulty factor by 10.

The high jump is one of the most visually exciting sports, watching at the arena or on television. And every sports photographer will tell you it's among their favorite events to capture images of.

The top image they captured on Wednesday night was this: Bahamas' Donald Thomas basking in the glow of the moment after the gold medal was handed to him.

The battle for the gold came down to this quintet: Sweden's Stefan Holm, Russia's Yaroslav Rybakov, Cyprus' Kyriakos Ioannou, Thomas of the Bahamas and Martyn Bernard of England.

Ioannou, first in line to attempt to get over the 2.35-meter bar without knocking it over, earned an "X" on his first try. He didn't succeed. (He made it on his second chance.)

The next two — Holm and Rybakov — both grazed the bar with their leg and saw it drop to the mat.

Then Thomas stepped onto the track to begin his pre-jump sprint. He got over the target with plenty of wiggle room.

Holm's gold-medal aspirations ended when he was unsuccessful on all three tries. A second after the final jump, he lowered his head and gave a look of disgust when the realization of his failure sunk in — it didn't take long, really.

Martyn Bernard didn't get past this stage, either.

And then it was three: Ioannou, Rybakov and Thomas.

Ioannou and Rybakov were 0-for-2 in their respective attempts at 2.37 meters. Thomas was the third to get a second shot. The result? He, too, saw the bar drop to the mat, and the crowd saw him blink, pinch his nose and flail his arms in disappointment.

Round 3 at 2.37 meters began with Ioannou lifting the tiny island nation on his shoulders. He didn't jump high enough.

The Greek Cypriot clapped and did an impromptu back flip after missing his third try, a classy acknowledgment of the fans in Japan and back home.

Up next was Rybakov. His best effort on the day was not at this height. He, too, failed on attempt No. 3.

So then at 9:47, it was Thomas' gold to earn, no one else's. He applauded, getting the crowd to join him.

The spectators and other jumpers joined him.

He knocked the bar over. He smiled. He flexed his muscles.

And then he took his shoes of and tossed them into the crowd, was handed his nation's flag and he jogged on the track.

Rybakov grabbed the silver and Ioannou captured the bronze.

Thomas took fewer attempts (just one) at 2.35, the criteria that determined he will return to the Bahamas as a national hero. Rybakov had final misses overall on the night compared to the Cypriot, and thus he took the silver.

Earlier, seconds after Tomas Janku of the Czech Republic missed his third and final attempt to clear 2.33 meters, Thomas had enough speed and power at liftoff to raise himself over the barrier on his third try.

Cuba's Victory Moya wasn't as fortunate. He failed to get over the horizontal bar seconds later.

In the 15-man final, 11 different nations were represented, including tiny Cyprus and the Bahamas.

Holm earned the gold medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics, has been a force to be reckoned with in the event, having won 12 of 14 competitions this year, including the European Indoor Championships.

Thomas entered the meet as one of the sport's up-and-comers. He raised his personal-best mark from 2.24 meters to 2.35 this season, which is just his second as a high jumper.