Russia's Yelena Slesarenko bites her gold

Slesarenko cleared 2.04m at the first attempt which none of her rivals could match and the 22-year-old went on to set a new Olympic record of 2.06.

She then tried to beat the world record of 2.09 - 31cm beyond her own height - but failed with three attempts at 2.10.

Double world champion Hestrie Cloete of South Africa, who came second in Sydney, took silver again and Ukraine's Viktoriya Styopina took the bronze.

Slesarenko said: "I didn't know that I was going to win here. I came in full of hope and I achieved my goal.

"The competition was hard but Cloete helped me jump better by jumping so well."

Styopina and Cloete both cleared 2.02 but the European lost on countback after two failures at both 1.96 and 1.99.

"She was clearly the best jumper," Cloete said of Slesarenko. "I was jumping before her so I should have been able to put her under more pressure but 2.04 was too much.

"I am actually really happy about the silver. There were about five others who could have done it, too."

Cloete, who smokes up to a packet of cigarettes a day and celebrated her 26th birthday on Thursday, missed twice at 2.04 and then gambled and lost with one attempt at 2.06.