Javier Sotomayor Sanabria is a Cuban former track and field athlete who specialized in the high jump and is the current world record holder. His world record of 2.45 m and second-highest jump of 2.44 make him the only person ever to have cleared eight feet (2.44 m). Javier Sotomayor set the men's high jump world record of 2.44 m in San Juan, Puerto Rico on July 29, 1989. It stood 4 years, until Javier Sotomayor's 2.45 m on July 27, 1993. Wiki link