Sotomayor in New Delhi on Wednesday

New Delhi: High jump legend Javier Sotomayor said too many interruptions prevented his career from attaining even greater heights.

Sotomayor still holds the world high jump record of 2.45 metres — set in 1993 — but the hurt of being stripped of his Pan American Games gold medal in 1999 for cocaine use still remains.

Sotomayor was suspended, but returned to win the silver at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 after the ban was lifted.

“It was wrong to ban me,” Sotomayor, while in the capital as brand ambassador of the Vodafone Delhi Half Marathon, said.

“It was one of the reasons why I could not train properly for the Olympics, and had to remain content with the silver.”

The Cuban great still rued not being able to participate in the 1984 and 1988 Olympics which were boycotted by Cuba. “It was a political decision and one which we agreed with,” he said.

Sotomayor returned with a vengeance to secure gold at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. He also won two world championship golds.

“I regret missing out on two Olympics. After I won the gold medal at Barcelona (in 1992), I was naturally elated.”

The standard of high jump, according to Sotomayor, has gone down in the past few years.

“It is a worldwide trend. During my days, jumpers used to touch the 2.40m mark regularly. My aim had always been to jump somewhere around 2.45m. These days jumpers win medals without going anywhere near that mark.”

Now the manager of the Cuban athletics team, Sotomayor is sure that his country will continue to produce world champions in numbers. “Back in our country, we have an extremely dedicated sports policy and children are given training from a very young age. Our athletes will continue to excel,” he said.