# Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's high jump

The Women's high jump competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom. The event was held at the Olympic Stadium on 9–11 August.
In the qualifying round, only four athletes attempted the automatic qualifying height of 1.96, the clearance necessary for Svetlana Radzivil to advance beyond two misses at 1.93 and while failing, Irina Gordeeva needed to cover her chances in case Ariane Friedrich or Antonia Stergiou had cleared it.
In the final, it was down to four athletes at 2 metres, in the process losing defending champion Tia Hellebaut and reigning indoor champion Chaunte Lowe. Ruth Beitia was clean at 2.00 with one earlier miss, but she could go no further. Brigetta Barrett was getting into a habit of clearing heights on her second attempt. But she also cleared 2.03 on her second attempt, while Svetlana Shkolina cleared on her third, putting Barrett in silver medal position and Shkolina in the bronze position. The leader was reigning world champion Anna Chicherova, clean through 2.03, which would have been enough for the gold medal. But the competition went on, all three attempting 2.05. Chicherova cleared on her second attempt while Barrett and Shkolina missed three times to settle the medals for sure.
Seven years after the competition, on 1 February 2019, Svetlana Shkolina was among twelve Russian track and field athletes found guilty of doping during the 2012 Summer Olympics, and was stripped of her bronze medal. In 2021, IOC reallocated her bronze medal to Ruth Beitia of Spain, the athlete who originally got fourth in the event.
In 2016, victorious Chicherova's 2008 drug re-test returned positive for dehydrochlormethyltestosterone (turinabol). Her 2008 bronze was rescinded, but 2012 gold was not affected.

## Competition format

The competition consisted of two rounds, qualification and final. Athletes start with a qualifying round. Jumping in turn, each athlete attempts to achieve the qualifying height. If they fail at three jumps in a row, they are eliminated. After a successful jump, they receive three more attempts to achieve the next height. Once all jumps have been completed, all athletes who have achieved the qualifying height go through to the final. If fewer than 12 athletes achieve the qualifying standard, the best 12 athletes go through. Cleared heights reset for the final, which followed the same format until all athletes fail three consecutive jumps.

## Schedule

All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1)
| Date | Time | Round |
| Thursday, 9 August 2012 | 09:30 | Qualifications |
| Saturday, 11 August 2012 | 19:00 | Finals |

## Records

Prior to the competition, the existing world record, Olympic record, and world leading jump were as follows:
| World record | Stefka Kostadinova (BUL) | 2.09 m | Rome, Italy | 30 August 1987 |
| Olympic record | Yelena Slesarenko (RUS) | 2.06 m | Athens, Greece | 28 August 2004 |
| World leading | Anna Chicherova (RUS) | 2.06 m | Arnstadt, Germany | 4 February 2012 |

## Results
### Qualification

Qual. rule: qualification standard 1.96m (Q) or at least best 12 qualified (q).
| Rank | Group | Name | Nationality | 1.75 | 1.80 | 1.85 | 1.90 | 1.93 | 1.96 | Result | Note |
| 1 | B | Svetlana Radzivil | Uzbekistan | o | o | o | o | xxo | o | 1.96 | Q, SB |
| 2 | A | Ruth Beitia | Spain | - | - | o | o | o | - | 1.93 | q |
| 2 | A | Anna Chicherova | Russia | - | - | o | o | o | - | 1.93 | q |
| 2 | A | Emma Green Tregaro | Sweden | - | - | o | o | o | - | 1.93 | q, SB |
| 2 | B | Tia Hellebaut | Belgium | - | - | o | o | o | - | 1.93 | q |
| 2 | B | Chaunté Lowe | United States | - | o | o | o | o | - | 1.93 | q |
| 2 | A | Melanie Melfort | France | o | o | o | o | o | - | 1.93 | q, =SB |
| 2 | B | Svetlana Shkolina | Russia | - | - | o | o | o | - | 1.93 | q |
| 9 | A | Burcu Ayhan | Turkey | o | o | - | xo | o | - | 1.93 | q, SB |
| 10 | A | Brigetta Barrett | United States | o | o | o | o | xo | - | 1.93 | q |
| 10 | B | Irina Gordeeva | Russia | - | o | o | o | xo | xx- | 1.93 | q |
| 10 | A | Airinė Palšytė | Lithuania | o | o | o | o | xo | - | 1.93 | q |
| 13 | B | Antonia Stergiou | Greece | o | xo | o | xxo | xo | xxx | 1.93 | SB |
| 14 | A | Ariane Friedrich | Germany | - | - | o | o | xxo | xxx | 1.93 | SB |
| 15 | A | Olena Kholosha | Ukraine | - | o | o | o | xxx | | 1.90 | |
| 15 | B | Anna Iljuštšenko | Estonia | - | o | o | o | xxx | | 1.90 | |
| 17 | B | Doreen Amata | Nigeria | - | o | x- | o | xxx | | 1.90 | SB |
| 18 | A | Zheng Xingjuan | China | - | o | o | xxo | xxx | | 1.90 | |
| 19 | B | Levern Spencer | Saint Lucia | - | o | xo | xxo | xxx | | 1.90 | |
| 20 | B | Amy Acuff | United States | o | o | o | xxx | | | 1.85 | |
| 20 | A | Nadiya Dusanova | Uzbekistan | - | o | o | xxx | | | 1.85 | |
| 20 | B | Ebba Jungmark | Sweden | - | o | o | xxx | | | 1.85 | |
| 20 | B | Lissa Labiche | Seychelles | o | o | o | xxx | | | 1.85 | |
| 20 | B | Lesyani Mayor | Cuba | o | o | o | xxx | | | 1.85 | |
| 20 | A | Esthera Petre | Romania | o | o | o | xxx | | | 1.85 | |
| 20 | B | Venelina Veneva-Mateeva | Bulgaria | - | o | o | xxx | | | 1.85 | |
| 27 | A | Deirdre Ryan | Ireland | - | o | xo | xxx | | | 1.85 | |
| 28 | A | Tonje Angelsen | Norway | - | o | xxo | xxx | | | 1.85 | |
| 29 | A | Wanida Boonwan | Thailand | o | o | xxx | | | | 1.80 | |
| 29 | A | Dương Thị Việt Anh | Vietnam | - | o | xxx | | | | 1.80 | |
| 29 | B | Sahana Kumari | India | - | o | xxx | | | | 1.80 | |
| 29 | A | Oldřiška Marešová | Czech Republic | o | o | xxx | | | | 1.80 | |
| 29 | B | Ana Šimić | Croatia | - | o | xxx | | | | 1.80 | |
| 34 | B | Vita Styopina | Ukraine | xo | xo | xxx | | | | 1.80 | |
| — | B | Marina Aitova | Kazakhstan | xxx | | | | | | — | NM |
r = retired from competition

### Final

| Rank | Name | Nationality | 1.89 | 1.93 | 1.97 | 2.00 | 2.03 | 2.05 | Result | Note |
| | Anna Chicherova | Russia | o | o | o | o | o | xo | 2.05 | WL |
| | Brigetta Barrett | United States | o | o | xo | xo | xo | xxx | 2.03 | PB |
| | Ruth Beitia | Spain | o | o | xo | o | xxx | | 2.00 | =SB |
| 4 | Tia Hellebaut | Belgium | o | xxo | o | xxx | | | 1.97 | =SB |
| 5 | Chaunté Lowe | United States | o | o | xo | xxx | | | 1.97 | |
| 6 | Svetlana Radzivil | Uzbekistan | o | xxo | xxo | xxx | | | 1.97 | SB |
| 7 | Emma Green Tregaro | Sweden | xo | o | xxx | | | | 1.93 | =SB |
| 8 | Melanie Melfort | France | o | xo | xxx | | | | 1.93 | =SB |
| 9 | Irina Gordeeva | Russia | o | xxo | xxx | | | | 1.93 | |
| 10 | Airinė Palšytė | Lithuania | o | xxx | | | | | 1.89 | |
| 11 | Burcu Ayhan | Turkey | xxo | xxx | | | | | 1.89 | |
| DSQ | Svetlana Shkolina | Russia | o | o | o | o | xxo | xxx | 2.03 | PB |