Pedroso was born in
Havana, Cuba. In July 1990, aged just 17, Pedroso jumped more than eight meters for the first time. Facing tough competition from
Carl Lewis,
Mike Powell and others, he still won numerous
gold medals in international competitions in the early nineties. He almost never finished in less than first place. When Powell and Lewis retired, Pedroso became a dominant athlete, winning numerous
indoor and
outdoor World Championships. In fact he won all major championships from 1997 to 2001, including an Olympic gold medal in
Sydney.
At altitude in
Sestriere in 1995, Iván Pedroso jumped 8.96 meters with a measured wind of +1.2. This would have been the
world record, beating
Mike Powell by one centimeter. However, the
Italian Athletics Federation did not forward the result to the
IAAF for ratification, since the wind mark was declared invalid, because a person stood in front of the
anemometer, probably intercepting the correct wind measurement.[5]
Despite his great success in the World Championships, due to injuries, he did not make a great impact on the Olympic Games like former rival Carl Lewis. He did finish fourth at the age of 19 in
Barcelona 1992, but in
Atlanta 1996 he had injury troubles and could only finish 12th in the long jump final. In the 2000 Olympics (Sydney), Pedroso spectacularly won the gold medal with his last jump. In a tough contest at the
2004 Olympics, he finished 7th. Pedroso has not entered in any major championships since, although he still had several jumps over 8 metres.
On 26 September 2007, Pedroso announced his retirement.
His best jump was officially 8.71 meters, in
Salamanca 1995.[6]
He is the coach of 2013 triple jump world champion,
Teddy Tamgho. Pedroso is a cousin of the hurdler
Aliuska López.