THE SEOUL GAMES / DAY 14 : Track and Field Roundup : Ritter High Jumps 6-8 for a Stunning Victory

SEOUL â€”  In a dramatic finish, Louise Ritter of Dallas, who was considering retirement only 13 months ago, upset one the best high jumpers of all time, Bulgaria’s Stefka Kostadinova, Friday to give the U.S. women’s track and field team another gold medal.

After both women, the only two competitors remaining, missed three times at 6-feet 8-inches, they went into a jump-off at that height to determine the champion.

Kostadinova, who set her most recent world record at 6-10 when she won at the World Championships last year in Rome, missed her first try at 6-8 in the jump-off. Ritter then cleared the height, an Olympic record, to become the first U.S. woman gold medalist in the high jump since 1956.

That also tied the American record she set earlier this year. Kostadinova, 23, had cleared that height 24 times in her career.

In a remarkable competition, Ritter and Kostadinova both cleared five heights without a miss before they reached 6-8. The Soviet Union’s Tamara Bykova finished third, missing three times at 6-7.

After the World Championships, Ritter, 30, was so disappointed in her eighth-place performance that she considered retirement.

Ritter’s victory gave the U.S. women, who are having one of their best Olympics in competition against Eastern Bloc countries, their fifth gold medal.

Christian Schenk led a 1-2 East German finish in the decathlon, in which Daley Thompson of Britain missed his third Olympic medal by 22 points after completing the last three events injured.

Dave Steen of Canada beat Thompson for the bronze with a fast 1,500-meter race, the last event of the 2-day, 10-discipline event, the most difficult in track and field.

Schenk, 23, a medical student, gave East Germany its first Olympic decathlon title, getting 8,488 points. Countryman Torsten Voss, the world champion, got 8,399 for the silver.

Steen jumped from eighth to third place with a strong 1,500 race and finished with 8,328 points.

Thompson, 30, who injured his left thigh and right hand when his pole snapped in the pole vault, the eighth event, had 8,306 points.

Thompson, the world record-holder at 8,847 points, missed his chance to become the first man to win three Olympic decathlon medals. He was the champion in 1980 and 1984 and is only the second man to repeat as gold medalist in the event.

American Tim Bright set a world record for the decathlon pole vault by clearing 18-8. He was fourth going into the 1,500, but he faded in the race and ended up seventh.

The U.S. women’s 400-meter relay easily qualified in the first round in 42.39 seconds. However, 30 minutes before the race, the team was in disarray. One runner, Gwen Torrence, who had been told by coaches she was not on the team, had left Seoul. Another, Florence Griffith Joyner, did not show up for practice.

U.S. coaches were unsure who would run the two middle legs of the race.

In the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase, Julius Kariuki of Kenya won in 8:05.51, an Olympic record. Henry Marsh of the United States finished sixth.

In the women’s 100-meter hurdles, Jordanka Donkova of Bulgaria won, setting an Olympic record in 12.38 and bettering her own Olympic record of 12.47.

The U.S. men’s 1,600-meter relay team won its heat to advance in 3:02.84.

Mac Wilkins of the United States qualified for the finals of men’s discus with a throw of 204-11. Mike Buncic advanced with a throw of 207-3. In women’s shotput qualifying, Bonnie Dasse of Costa Mesa advanced to the final with a throw of 63-9 1/2. American record-holder Ramona Pagel failed to advance, as did Connie Price, the other American in the event.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.