Portrait of Valeriy Brumel

Birthday profile

Valeriy Brumel

Valeriy Brumel, Soviet high jumper (died 2003)

Born
April 14, 1942
Died
January 26, 2003
Zodiac sign
Aries
Birth year
1942

About Valeriy Brumel

Valeriy Nikolayevich Brumel was a Soviet-Russian high jumper. The 1964 Olympic champion and multiple world record holder, he is regarded as one of the greatest athletes ever to compete in the high jump. His international career was ended by a motorcycle crash in 1965. In 1960 he broke the USSR record, 2.17 metres (7 ft 1 in), and was selected to the Olympic team. At the 1960 Summer Olympics, he cleared the same height as the winner Robert Shavlakadze, but made more attempts and thus was awarded a silver medal. In 1961–1963 he broke his own world record in the high jump six times, improving it from 2.23 metres (7 ft 4 in) to 2.28 metres (7 ft 6 in).

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Valeriy Brumel timeline

  1. In 1960 he broke the USSR record, 2.17 metres (7 ft 1 in), and was selected to the Olympic team.
  2. At the 1960 Summer Olympics, he cleared the same height as the winner Robert Shavlakadze, but made more attempts and thus was awarded a silver medal.
  3. In 1961–1963 he broke his own world record in the high jump six times, improving it from 2.23 metres (7 ft 4 in) to 2.28 metres (7 ft 6 in).
  4. The 1964 Olympic champion and multiple world record holder, he is regarded as one of the greatest athletes ever to compete in the high jump.

The world when Valeriy Brumel was born

Valeriy Brumel was born in 1942. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1942

  • #1 song"White Christmas" – Bing Crosby
  • Top movieCasablanca
  • Best-selling bookThe Song of Bernadette – Franz Werfel

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentFirst Negro League World Series
  • Top headlineBattle of Midway becomes turning point of WWII in the Pacific
  • Technology milestoneEnrico Fermi achieves first nuclear chain reaction
  • Defining fadRationing and war bonds
  • Notable inventionNapalm
  • World population2.35 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderFranklin D. Roosevelt
  • Sports championSt. Louis Cardinals (World Series)
  • U.S. population134.9M

1942 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Valeriy Brumel's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19422026
Gas$0.20$3.45/gal
Average home$5,600$435,000
Average income$3,800$67,500
Minimum wage$0.30$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$0.27$11.95
Postage stamp$0.03$0.73
Population134.9M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, International Olympic Committee, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.