1 BEAMON BEAMON TAKES FLIGHT T he crowd was cheering but Bob Beamon could still Come on Make it a good one yelled Ralph hear his friend’s voice Boston his teammate on the US Olympic track team at the 1968 Summer Games in Mexico City Mexico Beamon began to sprint down the runway He did not know it at the time but with each step he was getting closer to smashing the Olympic record in the long jump Bob Beamon center sports his gold medal atop the victory stand after winning the long jump at the 1968 Summer Games in Mexico City Mexico 4
Bob Beamon flies through the air during the long jump competition at the 1968 Summer Olympics Although Beamon was a gold-medal favorite he did not feel like it at the time He was 22 years old It was his first Olympics And he was going up against a stacked field Boston was competing for the third time He was the gold medalist in the long jump at the 1960 Olympics in Rome Italy Then he won silver at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo 6
Japan The 1964 gold medalist Great Britain’s Lynn Davies was also back in 1968 So was Igor Ter-Ovanesyan of the Soviet Union He had won bronze medals in 1960 and 1964 Plus Boston and Ter-Ovanesyan shared the world record Needless to say the field was loaded Meanwhile Beamon had found himself in trouble during the qualifying rounds He fouled on his first two jumps That means he stepped on the foul line at the end of the runway before he jumped He had just one more chance to reach the event finals But thanks to Boston’s help Beamon began to feel more confident Boston told him to back up a few steps and adjust his approach to the sandy pit at the end of the runway Beamon made the adjustment He started his jump earlier and did not touch the foul line He jumped far enough to advance to the Olympic final Rain was threatening as Beamon warmed up for the final Seventeen jumpers had qualified for the last round Beamon was fourth to jump As he sped down the runway Beamon thought only about landing a clean jump He had seen the first three jumpers foul on their first attempts When Beamon leaped into the air and sailed above the sand pit he looked like he was flying When his heels hit the sand the stadium crowd exploded with cheers It took a long time for the result to flash on the scoreboard Beamon had jumped so far the 7
