Aleksandr Grigoryev (Russian: Александр Николаевич Григорьев; born 7 October 1955) is a former Belarusian high jumper who competed for the Soviet Union. He represented his country at the 1980 Moscow Olympics and was a seven-time Soviet champion. He was a medallist at the European Athletics Championships, IAAF World Cup and multiple times at the European Cup. He held a personal best of .
Born in Saint Petersburg, he was a member of the SK VS Minsk sports club in Belarus during his career.[1] He had his breakthrough year in 1975, winning his first national title at the Soviet Spartakiad and breaking the championship record to win the 1975 European Cup with a leap of .[2] [3] He was also fourth at the 1975 European Athletics Indoor Championships.[4]
Grigoryev missed the 1976 season but reappeared in 1977 to win the Soviet title indoor and outdoors,[5] [2] as well as taking bronze medals at that year's Universiade and European Cup.[6] [3] His lifetime best jump of in Riga that June ranked him third in the world.[4] He won the Soviet indoor title with an indoor best of, which was a championship record. He retained that outdoor title a year later and also broke the Soviet Athletics Championships record with outdoors.[5] In international competition he placed fourth at the 1978 European Athletics Indoor Championships,[4] but won the highest honour of his career at the 1978 European Athletics Championships – a silver medal behind Soviet teammate and world record holder Vladimir Yashchenko.[7] [8]
A third straight national title outdoors came at the 1979 Soviet Spartakiad, seeing off a challenge from American Benn Fields.[9] He was a bronze medallist in the high jump at both the 1979 European Cup and the 1979 IAAF World Cup.[3] [10] He gained selection for the Soviet Union at the 1980 Summer Olympics and reached eighth in the final on home turf.[1] He took his final national title at the 1981 Soviet Championships.[2]
1975 | European Indoor Championships | Katowice, Poland | 4th | 2.19 m | |
European Cup | Nice, France | bgcolor=gold | 1st | 2.24 m | |
1977 | European Cup | Helsinki, Finland | 3rd | 2.20 m | |
Universiade | Sofia, Bulgaria | 3rd | 2.19 m | ||
1978 | European Indoor Championships | Milan, Italy | 4th | 2.25 m | |
European Championships | Prague, Czechoslovakia | bgcolor=silver | 2nd | 2.28 m | |
1979 | European Cup | Turin, Italy | 3rd | 2.24 m | |
IAAF World Cup | Montreal, Canada | 3rd | 2.24 m | ||
1980 | Olympic Games | Moscow, Soviet Union | 8th | 2.21 m |