The Cuban Who Soared 8 Feet in San Juan Is Headed for L.A.

It was fitting that a track and field meet sponsored by a company named Jack in the Box should feature jumpers.

Al Franken, promoter of the invitational next Sunday at UCLA’s Drake Stadium, assumed it would be long jumpers. He even arranged for the first man to break Bob Beamon’s world record of 29-2 1/2 at the meet to receive a $500,000 bonus.

Considering that the record has stood for 21 years, the money appears safe, especially after Carl Lewis, who has more 28-foot jumps than anyone else, decided not to participate.

But that also left Franken without a headliner.

Until Saturday night.

Only hours after Franken reached an agreement with Cuba’s track and field federation to enter seven of their athletes in the meet, one of them, Javier Sotomayor, became the first man to clear 8 feet in the high jump. He broke his own world record of 7-11 1/2 with a jump of 8-0 in the Caribbean and Central American Championships at Sixto Escobar Stadium in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Naturally, on Sunday morning, the Cubans called Franken to renegotiate.

Fortunately for him, all they wanted was for Franken to pay the expenses for two additional athletes to enter the meet. He quickly agreed and hung up the telephone before anyone at the other end could reconsider.

Instead of paying $15,000 to the Cubans to bring seven athletes, he is paying them $20,000 for nine athletes. That is the same amount that he said he offered Lewis by himself.

Among the other Cubans who are supposed to compete at Westwood are Ana Fidelia Quirot, ranked first in the world in the 800 meters last year; Jaime Jefferson, a 28-foot long jumper who will compete against U.S. Olympic medalists Mike Powell and Larry Myricks; Andres Simon, the indoor world champion at 60 meters, and quarter-miler Roberto Hernandez.

But Sotomayor is Cuba’s most valuable export. And not only does Franken have him in the high jump, he also has Hollis Conway, the 1988 Olympic silver medalist from Lafayette, La., who broke his American record of 7-9 3/4 Sunday in the U.S. Olympic Festival at Norman, Okla., with a jump of 7-10.

Turning his attention to Sotomayor, Conway missed in three attempts at a newer world record of 8-0 1/2.

“I guess I’ve been living right,� said Franken, who only 48 hours ago was trying to sell one of the weakest fields he has ever assembled for his annual summer meet. Although it is too early to tell whether he will benefit greatly at the gate from Sotomayor’s jump, Franken at least will have the attention of the track and field world.

The 8-foot jump (2.44 meters) is considered a milestone here in the land of imperial measurements, but it is significant in most of the world only because it moves Sotomayor within a centimeter of the 2.45-meter barrier. There does not seem to be much poetry in that, but it presumably speaks to the metric world.

“The 2.44 is just another world record,� Dwight Stones said.

In the high jump, 15 of the first 18 world record-holders were Americans. But no American has held the world record since Stones jumped 7-7 1/4 in 1977.

“Metrically, 2.45 is the next barrier,� Stones said. “Based on what these guys are jumping at, however, I’m not sure that’s a high barrier.�

Sotomayor said earlier this year that 2.50 (8-2 1/2) is his eventual goal.

Only 21, he figures to have plenty of time to chase it. And the talent.

“He’s the consummate power jumper, if power is strength plus speed,� Stones said of the 6-foot-5, 181-pound Sotomayor. “He is the ultimate technique jumper.

“He’s also fearless. He has absolutely no fear when he runs toward the bar. He’s not concerned with how high it is over his head.�

About all that is known outside of Cuba concerning Sotomayor’s personal life is that he is from Limonar, a small town near the center of the island, is studying to become a coach and recently was rewarded with a house from the government for his accomplishments.

Athletically, he caught the attention of those who follow the sport in 1984, when he jumped 7-7 3/4 as a 16-year-old. He set the world junior record at 7-8 3/4 in 1986. A little more than two years later, in September 1988, at Salamanca, Spain, he set the world record at 7-11 1/2, a height he matched in the World Indoor Championships this year at Budapest.

He was jumping so well in that meet that observers figured he could have cleared 8 feet. Instead, he requested that the bar be raised to 7-11 3/4 because he wanted to equal his outdoor record. He said that 8 feet could wait until this summer.

It appeared as if he might have to wait at least until next winter when he returned recently from Europe with a leg injury. Stones said he thought Soto, as he is known to the other jumpers, might have overextended himself this year, trying to compensate for missing the 1988 Olympic Games because of the Cuban boycott.

“He has a mission,� Stones said.

He may have become more focused on it in a meet nine days ago in New York, where he jumped 7-9 and finished second to Sweden’s Patrick Sjoberg at 7-9 1/4. Sotomayor watched nervously as Sjoberg, a former world record-holder, narrowly missed an attempt at 8 feet.

“It’s like sitting in your house and someone’s there jiggling the lock,� Stones said. “They want something that belongs to you.�

That could have been the inspiration for Sotomayor’s 8-foot jump Saturday night, which came on his second attempt at the height.

Moments before the jump, sensing that Sotomayor was on the verge of setting a world record, his teammates began to clap rhythmically. Officials asked them to stop, but Sotomayor insisted that they be allowed to continue. They soon were joined by the 5,000 spectators.

When it was apparent that he had cleared the bar, Sotomayor performed a cartwheel in the pit. He was engulfed by about 20 of his teammates and several jubilant fans.

Juan Lorena, the International Management Group agent who represents the Cubans, said officials feared that the bar would be knocked off the standard before the height could be remeasured, nullifying the record.

That was reminiscent of the scene at the Coliseum on June 29, 1956, when Charlie Dumas, a 19-year-old Compton College freshman, became the first person to clear 7 feet. One of the high jump officials that day, Dave Schwartz, recalled in an interview with The Times three years ago that he and two other officials had to restrain a crowd of photographers, reporters and fans from mobbing Dumas before the height could be officially measured.

It would be 33 years and 30 days before the 8-foot barrier would fall. How long is that? On the day Dumas first jumped 7 feet, The Times reported that new ocean-view homes in Palos Verdes were selling for $26,525.

Times staff writer Julie Cart contributed to this story from Oklahoma City.

HIGH JUMP WORLD RECORD PROGRESSION From 7 feet to 8 feet: Charlie Dumas to Javier Sotomayor

Mark Name Country Year 7-0 1/2 Charlie Dumas United States 1956 7-1 Yuri Styepanov USSR 1957 7-1 1/2 John Thomas United States 1960 7-1 3/4 John Thomas United States 1960 7-3 3/4 John Thomas United States 1960 7-3 3/4 Valeriy Brumel USSR 1961 7-4 1/4 Valeriy Brumel USSR 1961 7-4 1/2 Valeriy Brumel USSR 1961 7-5 Valeriy Brumel USSR 1961 7-5 1/4 Valeriy Brumel USSR 1962 7-5 1/4 Valeriy Brumel USSR 1962 7-5 3/4 Valeriy Brumel USSR 1963 7-6* Ni Chin-Chin China 1970 7-6 Pat Matzdorf United States 1971 7-6 Dwight Stones United States 1973 7-7 Dwight Stones United States 1976 7-7 1/4 Dwight Stones United States 1977 7-7 3/4 Vladimir Yashchenko USSR 1977 7-8 Vladimir Yashchenko USSR 1978 7-8 1/2 Jacek Wszola Poland 1980 7-8 1/2 Dietmar Mogenburg West Germany 1980 7-8 3/4 Gerd Wessig East Germany 1980 7-9 1/4 Zhu Jianhua China 1983 7-9 3/4 Zhu Jianhua China 1983 7-10 Zhu Jianhua China 1984 7-10 1/2 Rodolf Povarnitsin USSR 1985 7-10 3/4 Igor Paklin USSR 1985 7-11 1/4 Patrik Sjoberg Sweden 1987 7-11 1/2 Javier Sotomayor Cuba 1988 7-11 1/2i** Javier Sotomayor Cuba 1989 8-0 Javier Sotomayor Cuba 1989

*--Never submitted for official International Amateur Athletic Federation record,

but considered statistically valid.

**As of 1989 world record could be set indoors.