# Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Women's high jump

The women's high jump at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 21–23 August at the Beijing Olympic Stadium.

## Summary

The qualifying standards were 1.95 m (A standard) and 1.91 m (B standard).
The field was narrowed to four athletes by 2.01m. Blanka Vlašić was in the driver's seat, with a perfect round. Vlašić remained in gold medal position by continuing her perfect round to 2.03m. Anna Chicherova moved into silver position with a first attempt clearance as well. Tia Hellebaut took two attempts to get over the height and was in bronze position. Yelena Slesarenko couldn't get over the height and finished in fourth. After Vlašić missed for the first time in the competition Hellebaut's fortunes reversed with a first attempt clearance of 2.05 m (6 ft 8+1⁄2 in), leapfrogging her into the lead. Vlašić cleared on her second attempt, while Chicherova ended her competition with three straight misses. The bar was moved up to an Olympic record 2.07m, just 2cm below the world record. Neither competitor could get over 2.07m.
Eight years after the competition, samples taken after the event were retested. Chicherova tested positive for dehydrochlormethyltestosterone (turinabol). The fourth- and fifth-place finishers, Yelena Slesarenko and Vita Palamar also tested positive in the 2016 re-tests. All three were disqualified from the Olympics, and their results were struck from the record. Medals of other athletes have been reallocated by IAAF.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world record, Olympic record, and world leading jump were as follows:
| World record | Stefka Kostadinova (BUL) | 2.09 | Rome, Italy | 30 August 1987 |
| Olympic record | Yelena Slesarenko (RUS) | 2.06 | Athens, Greece | 28 August 2004 |
| World Leading | Blanka Vlašić (CRO) (2) | 2.06 | Istanbul, Turkey Madrid, Spain | 22 June 2008 5 July 2008 |
No new world or Olympic records were set for this event.

## Results
### Qualifying round

Qualification criteria: 1.96 (Q) or at least 12 best performers (q) advance to the final.
| Rank | Group | Name | Nationality | 1.80 | 1.85 | 1.89 | 1.93 | Result | Notes |
| 1 | B | Marina Aitova | Kazakhstan | o | o | o | o | 1.93 | q |
| 1 | B | Ruth Beitia | Spain | o | o | o | o | 1.93 | q |
| 1 | A | Tia Hellebaut | Belgium | - | o | o | o | 1.93 | q |
| 1 | B | Vita Styopina | Ukraine | o | o | o | o | 1.93 | q |
| 5 | B | Antonietta Di Martino | Italy | xo | o | o | o | 1.93 | q |
| 5 | A | Ariane Friedrich | Germany | - | o | xo | o | 1.93 | q |
| 7 | B | Iva Straková | Czech Republic | o | o | xxo | o | 1.93 | q |
| 8 | B | Chaunté Howard | United States | o | o | o | xo | 1.93 | q |
| 8 | A | Svetlana Shkolina | Russia | o | o | o | xo | 1.93 | q |
| 8 | B | Blanka Vlašić | Croatia | o | o | o | xo | 1.93 | q |
| 11 | B | Emma Green | Sweden | o | o | o | xxo | 1.93 | q |
| 12 | A | Romana Dubnová | Czech Republic | o | xo | o | xxo | 1.93 | q |
| 13 | A | Doreen Amata | Nigeria | o | o | o | xxx | 1.89 | |
| 13 | B | Melanie Skotnik | France | o | o | o | xxx | 1.89 | |
| 15 | A | Svetlana Radzivil | Uzbekistan | o | xo | o | xxx | 1.89 | |
| 16 | A | Amy Acuff | United States | o | o | xo | xxx | 1.89 | |
| 16 | B | Nicole Forrester | Canada | o | o | xo | xxx | 1.89 | |
| 18 | B | Anna Iljustsenko | Estonia | o | xxo | xo | xxx | 1.89 | |
| 19 | A | Xingjuan Zheng | China | xo | o | xxo | xxx | 1.89 | |
| 20 | A | Karina Vnukova | Lithuania | o | o | xxx | | 1.85 | |
| 21 | A | Sharon Day | United States | xo | o | xxx | | 1.85 | |
| 22 | A | Antonia Stergiou | Greece | xo | o | xxx | | 1.85 | |
| 23 | B | Nadiya Dusanova | Uzbekistan | xxo | o | xxx | | 1.85 | |
| 24 | B | Levern Spencer | Saint Lucia | - | xo | xxx | | 1.85 | |
| 25 | A | Yekaterina Yevseyeva | Kazakhstan | o | xxo | xxx | | 1.85 | |
| 26 | A | Noeng-Ruthai Chaipech | Thailand | o | xxx | | | 1.80 | |
| 26 | A | Inna Gliznuta | Moldova | o | xxx | | | 1.80 | |
| | B | Tatiana Efimenko | Kyrgyzstan | xxx | | | | NM | |
| | B | Romary Rifka | Mexico | xxx | | | | NM | |
| DQ (8th) | A | Vita Palamar | Ukraine | - | o | o | xo | 1.93 | q |
| DQ (12th) | A | Anna Chicherova | Russia | o | o | xo | xo | 1.93 | q |
| DQ (14th) | B | Yelena Slesarenko | Russia | o | o | xo | xxo | 1.93 | q |
NM - No Mark

### Final

| Rank | Name | Nationality | 1.85 | 1.89 | 1.93 | 1.96 | 1.99 | 2.01 | 2.03 | 2.05 | 2.07 | Height | Notes |
| | Tia Hellebaut | Belgium | o | o | o | o | xo | xo | xo | o | x-- | 2.05 | NR |
| | Blanka Vlašić | Croatia | o | o | o | o | o | o | o | xo | xxx | 2.05 | |
| | Chaunté Howard | United States | o | o | xo | xo | xxo | xxx | | | | 1.99 | SB |
| 4 | Ariane Friedrich | Germany | o | - | o | o | xxx | | | | | 1.96 | |
| 4 | Ruth Beitia | Spain | o | o | o | o | xxx | | | | | 1.96 | |
| 6 | Emma Green | Sweden | o | o | o | xxo | xxx | | | | | 1.96 | SB |
| 7 | Marina Aitova | Kazakhstan | o | o | o | xxx | | | | | | 1.93 | |
| 7 | Antonietta Di Martino | Italy | o | o | o | xxx | | | | | | 1.93 | |
| 9 | Iva Straková | Czech Republic | o | o | xxo | xxx | | | | | | 1.93 | |
| 9 | Vita Styopina | Ukraine | o | o | xxo | xxx | | | | | | 1.93 | |
| 11 | Svetlana Shkolina | Russia | o | xo | xxo | xxx | | | | | | 1.93 | |
| 12 | Romana Dubnová | Czech Republic | o | xo | x- | | | | | | | 1.89 | |
| DQ (3rd) | Anna Chicherova | Russia | o | o | o | xo | xxo | o | o | xxx | | 2.03 | |
| DQ (4th) | Yelena Slesarenko | Russia | o | o | xo | xo | xo | xo | xxx | | | 2.01 | |
| DQ (5th) | Vita Palamar | Ukraine | o | o | o | xo | xo | xx- | x | | | 1.99 | |
NR = National Record / PB = Personal Best / SB = Season Best