Former women’s high jump world record holder and two-time Olympic titlist Iolanda Balas, Romania, died at the age of 79.
Born in Timisoara (ROU) from Hungarian descent, Balas dominated the high jump speciality from late 1950s through mid 1960s, when she retired as a consequence of injuries. She had developed a sort of “scissor” style jump, without upper body rotation over the bar. This was well before more efficient Fosbury-style jump widespred in athletics. Her world record stayed unbeaten until 1971.
I still remember her winning gold when watching as a kid the 1st Universiade held in Turin, ITA, in 1959. The world record holder and the first woman to exceed 1.80 m, Balas was already a great star at that time. Despite this, I remember her simply sitting among the crowd, watching the running track and field events at Turin stadium. A tall and slender blonde athlete, she looked even taller than she actually was (1.85 m), maybe due to her very long legs.
Balas would win gold the following year at Rome Olympic Games and four years later in Tokyo.
Born in Timisoara (ROU) from Hungarian descent, Balas dominated the high jump speciality from late 1950s through mid 1960s, when she retired as a consequence of injuries. She had developed a sort of “scissor” style jump, without upper body rotation over the bar. This was well before more efficient Fosbury-style jump widespred in athletics. Her world record stayed unbeaten until 1971.
I still remember her winning gold when watching as a kid the 1st Universiade held in Turin, ITA, in 1959. The world record holder and the first woman to exceed 1.80 m, Balas was already a great star at that time. Despite this, I remember her simply sitting among the crowd, watching the running track and field events at Turin stadium. A tall and slender blonde athlete, she looked even taller than she actually was (1.85 m), maybe due to her very long legs.
Balas would win gold the following year at Rome Olympic Games and four years later in Tokyo.