Athletics at the 1968 Summer Olympics – Men's long jump

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Men's long jump
at the Games of the XIX Olympiad
LEB 1968 MiNr1067 pm B002.jpg
Lebanese stamp commemorating the 1968 Olympic long jump
Venue Estadio Olímpico Universitario
DateOctober 18
Competitors35 from 22 nations
Winning distance8.90 WR
Medalists
Gold medal icon.svg Bob Beamon
Flag of the United States.svg  United States
Silver medal icon.svg Klaus Beer
Flag of the German Olympic Team (1960-1968).svg  East Germany
Bronze medal icon.svg Ralph Boston
Flag of the United States.svg  United States
  1964
1972  
Official Video Highlights TV-icon-2.svg
Official Video Highlights

The men's long jump was one of four men's jumping events on the Athletics at the 1968 Summer Olympics program in Mexico City. The long jump took place on 18 October 1968. Thirty-five athletes from 22 nations competed. [1] The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at three since the 1930 Olympic Congress.

Bob Beamon won in a new world record of 8.90 m (29 ft 2+38 in); a record which stood for 23 years until it was finally broken in 1991, when Mike Powell jumped 8.95 m (29 ft 4+38 in) at the World Championships in Tokyo. [2] It was the United States' 14th gold medal in the men's long jump. Beamon's teammate Ralph Boston became the first man to win three medals in the event (gold in 1960, silver in 1964, bronze in 1968); Igor Ter-Ovanesyan of the Soviet Union barely missed doing so as well, finishing fourth (bronze in both 1960 and 1964). Klaus Beer took silver, East Germany's first medal in the event and the first medal by any German since Luz Long's silver in 1936.

Beamon's jump

On his first jump, Bob Beamon landed near the far end of the sand pit but the optical device which had been installed to measure jump distances was not designed to measure a jump of such length. This forced the officials to bring a tape measure to gauge the jump manually, which added to the feat's aura. After several minutes, it was announced that Beamon had set a world record of 8.90 m (29 ft 2+38 in), bettering the existing record by 55 cm (21+58 in). When the announcer called out the distance for the jump, Beamon – unfamiliar with metric measurements – still did not realize what he had done. [3] When his teammate and coach Ralph Boston told him that he had broken the world record by nearly 2 feet, his legs gave way and an astonished and overwhelmed Beamon suffered a brief cataplexy attack brought on by the emotional shock, [4] and collapsed to his knees, his body unable to support itself, placing his hands over his face. [5] The defending Olympic champion Lynn Davies told Beamon, "You have destroyed this event," and in sports jargon, a new adjective – Beamonesque – came into use to describe spectacular feats. [6]

Prior to Beamon's jump, the world record had been broken thirteen times since 1901, with an average increase of 6 cm (2+14 in) and the largest increase being 15 cm (6 in). Beamon's jump is still the Olympic record and 55 years later remains the second longest wind legal jump in history. (Beamon's jump was at the very limit, 2.0 metres per second, of wind assistance and was at altitude, though the next-best jump under the same conditions in 1968 was Ralph Boston's 8.16 metres). [1] Sports journalist Dick Schaap wrote a book about the leap, The Perfect Jump, and the feat was named by Sports Illustrated magazine as one of the five greatest sports moments of the 20th century.

Background

This was the 16th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. The returning finalists from the 1964 Games included all three medalists (Lynn Davies of Great Britain, Ralph Boston of the United States, and Igor Ter-Ovanesyan of the Soviet Union) as well as fifth-place finisher Jean Cochard of France, seventh-place finisher Michael Ahey of Ghana, eighth-place finisher Andrzej Stalmach of Poland, and ninth-place finisher Hiroomi Yamada of Japan. The three Tokyo medalists remained serious medal contenders; Boston and Ter-Ovanesyan shared the world record and Davies was the 1966 European and Commonwealth champion. A newcomer was favored to win, however: Bob Beamon of the United States, who had dominated the 1968 season. [1]

The Bahamas, Belize, Malaysia, Nicaragua, and Senegal each made their first appearance in the event. East and West Germany competed separately for the first time. The United States appeared for the 16th time, the only nation to have long jumpers at each of the Games thus far.

Competition format

The 1968 competition used the two-round format with divided final introduced in 1952. The qualifying round gave each competitor three jumps to achieve a distance of 7.65 metres; if fewer than 12 men did so, the top 12 (including all those tied) would advance. The final provided each jumper with three jumps; the top eight jumpers received an additional three jumps for a total of six, with the best to count (qualifying round jumps were not considered for the final). [1] [7]

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

World recordFlag of the United States.svg  Ralph Boston  (USA)
Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Igor Ter-Ovanesyan  (URS)
8.35 Modesto, United States
Mexico City, Mexico
29 May 1965
19 October 1967
Olympic recordFlag of the United States.svg  Ralph Boston  (USA)8.12 Rome, Italy 2 September 1960

Ralph Boston broke his own Olympic record with 8.27 metres in the qualifying round. Bob Beamon's leap in the final, however, shattered the world record by 55 centimetres.

Schedule

All times are Central Standard Time (UTC-6)

DateTimeRound
Thursday, 18 October 196810:30
15:30
Qualifying
Final

Results

Qualifying

Beamon, the favorite to win, nearly missed the finals entirely after fouling on his first two jumps in the qualifying round. Much like 1936 winner Jesse Owens had done facing the same situation, Beamon aimed his takeoff for a few inches short of the line—sacrificing distance for avoiding a third foul, expecting that he would be able to reach the required 7.65 metres anyway. He did, making the second-best jump of the round at 8.19 metres. Boston had the best jump of the round: an Olympic-record 8.27 metres.

RankAthleteNation123DistanceNotes
1 Ralph Boston Flag of the United States.svg  United States 8.27 OR 8.27Q
2 Bob Beamon Flag of the United States.svg  United States XX8.198.19Q
3 Lynn Davies Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain XX7.947.94Q
4 Jack Pani Flag of France.svg  France 7.917.91Q
Tõnu Lepik Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 7.917.91Q
6 Charles Mays Flag of the United States.svg  United States 7.857.85Q
7 Reinhold Boschert Flag of the German Olympic Team (1960-1968).svg  West Germany X7.797.79Q
8 Mike Ahey Flag of Ghana.svg  Ghana 7.187.777.77Q
9 Lars-Olof Höök Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 7.777.77Q
Klaus Beer Flag of the German Olympic Team (1960-1968).svg  East Germany 7.777.77Q
11 Gérard Ugolini Flag of France.svg  France 7.757.75Q
12 Igor Ter-Ovanesyan Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 7.747.74Q
13 Victor Brooks Flag of Jamaica.svg  Jamaica X7.547.727.72Q
14 Allen Crawley Flag of Australia.svg  Australia X7.717.71Q
15 Andrzej Stalmach Flag of Poland (1928-1980).svg  Poland 7.607.487.707.70Q
16 Leonid Barkovskyy Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 7.257.707.70Q
17 Hiroomi Yamada Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg  Japan 7.677.67Q
18 Pertti Pousi Flag of Finland.svg  Finland 7.467.63X7.63
19 Alan Lerwill Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 7.577.627.607.62
20 Laurent Sarr Flag of Senegal.svg  Senegal 7.277.507.617.61
21 Galdino Flores Flag of Mexico.svg  Mexico 7.387.59X7.59
22 Naoki Abe Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg  Japan 7.44X7.587.58
23 Wellesley Clayton Flag of Jamaica.svg  Jamaica 7.547.57X7.57
24 Shinji Ogura Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg  Japan 7.57X7.287.57
25 Philippe Housiaux Flag of Belgium (civil).svg  Belgium 7.307.447.407.44
26 Michel Charland Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 7.157.357.357.35
27 Clément Sagna Flag of Senegal.svg  Senegal 7.267.177.317.31
28 Su Wen-ho Flag of the Republic of China.svg  Taiwan 7.30X7.147.30
29 Anthony Chong Flag of Malaysia.svg  Malaysia 7.09X7.297.29
30 Jerry Wisdom Flag of the Bahamas (1964-1973).svg  Bahamas XX6.996.99
31 Chen Ming-chi Flag of the Republic of China.svg  Taiwan 6.62X6.716.71
32 Don Vélez Flag of Nicaragua.svg  Nicaragua X6.63X6.63
33 Jean Cochard Flag of France.svg  France 6.11X6.11
34 Owen Meighan Flag of British Honduras.svg  British Honduras X6.066.066.06
Peter Reed Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain XXXNo mark
Johnson Amoah Flag of Ghana.svg  Ghana DNS
Chen Chuan-show Flag of the Republic of China.svg  Taiwan DNS
Zoltán Cziffra Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary DNS
Giuseppe Gentile Flag of Italy.svg  Italy DNS
Henrik Kalocsai Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary DNS
Phil May Flag of Australia.svg  Australia DNS
Labh Singh Flag of India.svg  India DNS

Final

The final was held on October 18, 1968. Beamon was the fourth jumper to go, following Yamada, Brooks, and Boschert. Each of those three fouled on their first jump; Beamon's record-shattering jump was thus the first legal mark in the round—and effectively ended the contest for the gold medal. Beamon jumped once more, but passed on his third through sixth attempts.

Davies was tied for eighth after the first three jumps and should have been among those receiving three additional jumps; he was "mistakenly not advanced." After the error was discovered (and everyone else had finished jumping), the officials offered Davies the chance to take the extra three jumps. He declined.

RankAthleteNation123456Distance
Gold medal icon.svg Bob Beamon Flag of the United States.svg  United States 8.90 WR 8.048.90
Silver medal icon.svg Klaus Beer Flag of the German Olympic Team (1960-1968).svg  East Germany 7.978.19X7.62XX8.19
Bronze medal icon.svg Ralph Boston Flag of the United States.svg  United States 8.168.057.91XX7.978.16
4 Igor Ter-Ovanesyan Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 8.128.09XX8.108.088.12
5 Tonu Lepik Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 7.828.097.637.367.847.758.09
6 Allen Crawley Flag of Australia.svg  Australia X8.01X7.80X8.028.02
7 Jack Pani Flag of France.svg  France 7.947.977.697.587.61X7.97
8 Andrzej Stalmach Flag of Poland (1928-1980).svg  Poland 7.717.947.887.757.757.847.94
9 Lynn Davies Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 6.437.94X7.94
10 Hiroomi Yamada Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg  Japan X7.93XDid not advance7.93
11 Leonid Barkovskyy Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 7.907.82XDid not advance7.90
12 Reinhold Boschert Flag of the German Olympic Team (1960-1968).svg  West Germany X7.547.89Did not advance7.89
13 Michael Ahey Flag of Ghana.svg  Ghana 7.717.577.40Did not advance7.71
14 Lars-Olof Höök Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 7.66XXDid not advance7.66
15 Victor Brooks Flag of Jamaica.svg  Jamaica XX7.51Did not advance7.51
16 Gerard Ugolini Flag of France.svg  France 7.447.02XDid not advance7.44

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Long Jump, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
  2. "Athletics at the 1968 Mexico City Summer Games: Men's Long Jump". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
  3. "CCTV International". Cctv.com. 2008-10-15. Retrieved 2011-10-29.
  4. Great Olympic Moments – Sir Steve Redgrave, 2011
  5. "Encyclopædia Britannica Article on Bob Beamon". Britannica.com. Retrieved 2011-10-29.
  6. IOC Athlete Profile, – "His achievement inspired a new word in the English language: Beamonesque, meaning an athletic feat so dramatically superior to previous feats that it overwhelms the imagination."
  7. Official Report, vol. 3, p. 528.