Holm warms up for Olympics with world best

Swedish high-jumper Stefan Holm set a 2008 world best by jumping 2.37 metres in Athens on Sunday. Holm looked in top form as the defence of his Olympic title in Beijing beckons.

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Holm jumped a personal best 2.37 metres to win Sunday's Grand Prix meet in the same Athens arena that witnessed his dramatic gold medal win in 2004. The jump beat his previous outdoor personal best of 2.36 metres set that night in August 2004.

Holm had given an indication of his form in a previous tournament, also in Greece, earlier in the week with a jump of 2.32 metres.

Holm had already won Sunday's tournament with his first attempt on 2.32 metres; beating Andrej Tereshin and Dragutin Topic into second and third respectively. Holm then asked for the bar to be raised to a 2008 world best height of 2.37 metres. He failed in his first two attempts at the height but sailed over with his third attempt, despite having a rupture in his Achilles' tendon.

"The Achilles problem remains but we are not thinking about it. It was a good jump, it has to be at 2.37. It looked a lot like the 2.36 jump in the Olympics," said father and trainer Johnny Holm to news agency TT.

Holm made a further attempt at the elusive 2.40 metres and according to Johnny Holm his son was only a whisker from making it over.

Usain Bolt, the Jamaican sprinter and world 100 metres record holder, made sure in Athens that his visit to Stockholm for the DN Gala on July 22nd will generate a great deal of interest. Bolt continued to impress with a time of 19.67 seconds in the 200 metres, the sixth fastest time ever and a world year best.

Bolt sent out a warning to his sprint rivals that he is the man to beat in both the 100 and 200 metres events. No one has won the 100-200 metres Olympic sprint double since Carl Lewis, on his way to claiming four golds in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.