Holm farewell article

[croflash]

It is hard to comprehend that there has indeed been a time when major High Jump competitions were held without Stefan Holm participating - you have to go back more than a decade to experience that. But from 2009 the High Jump map will be redrawn as the 32-year-old Holm has announced that the IAAF / VTB Bank World Athletics Final in Stuttgart this weekend will be his very last international competition.

Despite Holm never being the overwhelming dominant of his event – although in 2004 he did in fact win all his meets both indoors and outdoors - he has never "just been there", but has consistently been a contender for the top positions whenever a major High Jump competition has been staged. Opponents have come and gone but Stefan C. Holm has remained.

That C stands for his official middle name, Christian, but looking back at his athletics career there are at least four other interpretations that would be at just as appropriate as middle names

More of the article at http://www.iaaf.org/WAF08/news/kind=103 ... 47621.html

[Walt Murphy]

Possibly the best website ever produced by an elite athlete http://www.scholm.com/engstart.htm

[eldrick]

Re: Holm farewell article

http://www.iaaf.org/WAF08/news/kind=103/newsid=47621.html

& who said the iaaf isn't the repository of the treacliest articles on the web?!

[imaginative]

Another measure of Holm's unique consistency at or very near the top
is Track & Field News traditional yearly rankings. After 7th places in
1998 and 1999 Holm has been ranked 4 – 1 – 1 – 2 – 1 – 2 – 4 – 2 and
he will probably end up in the top-3 also this year, after he won the
World Indoor title, raised his outdoor PB (to 2.37 in the Athens GP)
and only very, very narrowly missed out in the Beijing medal hunt.

Interestingly, the (IAAF) article does not mention the IAAF rankings,
where Holm has dominated almost entirely since 2001: He has missed
first place at year's end _once_ (second in 2006) and is even now
second on the continuation of that ranking.

(Cf. http://www.scholm.com/engakt.htm#wra)

Possibly the best website ever produced by an
elite athlete http://www.scholm.com/engstart.htm

Indeed. If only other athletes would take even half as good care of
their fans...

[Per Andersen]

Re: Holm farewell article

It is hard to comprehend that there has indeed been a time when major High Jump competitions were held without Stefan Holm participating - you have to go back more than a decade to experience that. But from 2009 the High Jump map will be redrawn as the 32-year-old Holm has announced that the IAAF / VTB Bank World Athletics Final in Stuttgart this weekend will be his very last international competition.

Despite Holm never being the overwhelming dominant of his event – although in 2004 he did in fact win all his meets both indoors and outdoors - he has never "just been there", but has consistently been a contender for the top positions whenever a major High Jump competition has been staged. Opponents have come and gone but Stefan C. Holm has remained.

That C stands for his official middle name, Christian, but looking back at his athletics career there are at least four other interpretations that would be at just as appropriate as middle names

More of the article at http://www.iaaf.org/WAF08/news/kind=103 ... 47621.html

Not much to add after Lennart Julin's article.
What impressed me the most on his site was the way he analyzed his every jump in so many competitions. Good jumps and bad jumps + comments about the competition itself.
He will be missed!

[EPelle]

Wow, let the best describe the best. Nothing much to add to Julin:s piece there.

It was an incredibly tough journey through the ranks of respect, but I believe SCH has gained enough of it to formally be lauded for his accomplishments. He did the little things right and cared about facts, figures and dispositions many (all?) of his predecessors considered trivial. Holm was a true student of his event in every aspect of the word, and has provided fans and others who would like to study this era more than the combined efforts of any number of others would ever be able to do.

Holm never jumped higher than Patrik Sjöberg, nor did he ever beat Sjöberg:s personal bests indoors or out. But I:m glad that Stefan Holm is not Patrik Sjöberg, rather simply Stefan Holm. He is a small-towner from a place just outside of Karlstad who trained under a blue collar eye and a video camera lense pointed from the stands at a pit near you - unless you live in America - a continent on which Holm had never ever competed in his life.

Holm had no say in when and where he:d be born, but he did have a say in what mark he:d leave on this generation of jumpers. It is a lasting one which has taken him over heights and marks which have been lower than his predecessors, but greater than his contemporaries - the true testament to his ability; he has gone as high as has been afforded this generation and leaves the sport with a greater share of the top indoor/outdoor medal earnings than anyone else.

I started a thread following Holm:s one - and only - 2.40m clearance, and titled it "Äntligen!", our word for finally.

Well, it is äntligen dags for Holm to hang up the spikes and live a normal life; he arrived home to Karlstad by train the other day, and took his first steps into that black hole which is the future and away from a 14-year past which ultimately provided him an Olympic gold medal.

Here:s hoping that Stefan C. Holm the high jumper will continue to have the same success as a father and husband as he did as an athlete.

That will make for one smart child who turns four next month.