Charles Allen Austin (born December 19, 1967) is an American athlete who won the gold medal in the men's high jump at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. He was inducted into the United States Track & Field Hall of Fame in 2012. Currently, Charles and Javier Sotomayor are the only two high jumpers that have won gold medals in the Olympics, Outdoor World Championships, Indoor World Championships and World Cup Championships. Hennadiy Avdyeyenko, who won the inaugural 1983 Outdoor World Championship setting the championship high jump record with a jump of 2.32m (7' 7 1/4"), and Charles are the only two high jumpers to win and establish the championship record in both the Outdoor World Championship and Olympic Games. Also, Charles has the highest combined average height for the two championships. Career Charles Austin coached himself over his 15-year professional career to where only seven people in the history of the high jump jumped higher. Standing 6' 1/2", he jumped 22 inches over his height, sixth all time. An Olympic gold medalist, Austin is the current American and Olympic high jump record holder, two-time World Champion, and a nine-time national track and field high jump champion. From starting in high school to the end of his career, Charles improved almost a foot in height. Born in Bay City, Texas, and raised in Van Vleck, Texas, Austin was the youngest of 10 children. He was a senior in high school without any way to pay for college, when some friends convinced him to try high jumping for the track team. He cleared six feet on his first try to make the team and finished the year with a personal best of 6' 11". Austin's success landed him an athletic scholarship at Southwest Texas University (now Texas State University). After a difficult first few years, he climbed the ranks in the NCAA, shattering school records and his senior year, won the NCAA Outdoor Championship in 1990 and was the number one college high jumper in the country. In 1991, Austin graduated with a degree in business administration. Within the year, five years after taking up the high jump in 1986, he was the American Record Holder (2.40m – 7'10 1/2"), gold medalist at the 1991 World Championship and was a contender to win in the Olympics. However, when he arrived at the 1992 Olympic trials there was speculation on whether or