Bob Beamon's 1968 Olympic Long Jump (olympics, medal, won, record)
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Yeah, great jump no doubt - 8.90m! But it was at very high Altitude and the maximum allowable wind at +2.0 m/s.
His next best was way down the list below 8.20m
To be sure that was even Beamonesque for Bob Beamon
Another Beamonesque jump is Johnathan Edward's Triple Jump WR. He got the WR 3 time in 1995 to best Willie Banks. It's a thing of beauty.
Bank's Record stood for 10 years at 17.97m
He went 17.98 then 18.16 and 18.29 - the last two on the same day. It still stands 21 years later. That's over a foot on the old record and the first over 60 feet.
There were a number of interesting things that Americans did at the 1968 Olympics. There was Bob Beamon's amazing long jump. There was also Dick Fosbury, who won Gold in the high jump using his unique high jump style that became the standard to this day. And then there was Tommie Green and John Carlos who finished 1st and 3rd in the 200 meter and went on to give the Black Power salute on the medal stand by raising black gloved fists. I remember all of these things either watching live, or some on tape delay. I always though that Carlos and Green's Black Power salute was something of an afterthought, given they apparently had only one pair of gloves with Green wearing its right hand and Carlos wearing the left. Also, in 1968 Mexico City, the site of those Olympics, was still considered a really great vacation destination with game shows like Let's Make a Deal giving away Mexico City vacation packages as a prize. Now, nearly 50 years later, it's luster is long gone with many U.S. companies giving extra pay (sometimes called "hazard pay" or something similar) to employees sent to Mexico City on business.
People are missing the point. It's not about how long the record stood, the most remarkable thing is how much he broke the existing record by.
I remember that day. I was in high school and I got home from school just after it happened. I followed track, so I knew the record, and I couldn't believe it.
For context, Ralph Boston was the first to exceed 27 feet in 1960, and over the ensuing years the record was contested by Boston and Igor Ter-Ovenisian. In 1968 the world record was 27' 5 3/4".
Bob Beamon jumped 29' 2 1/2", breaking the existing record by almost two feet. The current record, almost fifty years later, is just two inches more.
There is no doubt that Beamon's jump was the greatest single performance in Olympic history, and possibly in all of track.
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