Robert Grabarz

Personal life Grabarz was born in Enfield, England. His grandfather, Ernst Karl Grabarz (1934–2001), emigrated to England from Poland. Robbie attended Crosshall Junior School and Longsands College in St Neots, Cambridgeshire, and started a foundation degree programme with Loughborough College in 2006.

Career Grabarz finished twelfth at the 2006 World Junior Championships and competed at the 2011 European Indoor Championships, finishing 23rd and failing to reach the final. Grabarz subsequently failed to qualify for the 2011 World Championships in Athletics and lost his National Lottery funding. He secured financial help from the Ron Pickering Memorial Fund and BackleyBlack, the company run by former athletes Steve Backley and Roger Black. His coach Fuzz Ahmed commented: "If I hadn't found him backing and if he didn't have a credit card, I would have funded him, because that's how much I believed in him. I recognised he had matured into a person that wanted to be a world class high jumper, rather than somebody who was just a very good high jumper." His previous best was 2.28m and the jump saw him pass the Olympic 'A' qualifying standard. He followed this up at the 2012 London Olympics in August, by clearing 2.29 metres in the final to win bronze, in a three-way tie with Canada's Derek Drouin and Qatar's Mutaz Essa Barshim. After victories in the Rome and Birmingham Diamond League events, Grabarz took the overall 2012 IAAF Diamond League high jump crown, winning the Diamond Trophy and $40,000 prize money.

His personal-best jump is 2.37 metres, a mark set at the Lausanne Diamond League meeting on 23 August 2012, equalling the British men's outdoor record held by Steve Smith since 1992.

In May 2018 he announced his retirement, saying that he doesn't enjoy competition anymore.

In 2019, Ukhov was stripped of the gold medal by the Court of Arbitration in Sport for doping offences. As a result, two years later, Grabarz was upgraded to the silver medal position, along with Drouin and Barshim. The USA's Erik Kynard, the original silver medallist, was promoted to gold.

International competitions

Diamond League wins 2012 - Rome & Birmingham Won the 2012 Overall Diamond Race High Jump title