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
measuring device could not reach the point where his feet hit the sand Officials needed to use an old-fashioned steel measuring tape to measure his full leap The result 8 90 meters Unfamiliar with the metric system Beamon did not know how to react Boston finally told him that he had jumped more than 29 feet Beamon had set a world and Olympic record by soaring 29 feet 2 1 2 inches That was almost two feet longer than the previous record When he realized what he had done Beamon collapsed in disbelief Boston and another athlete had to help him back to his feet Beamon took one more attempt and jumped 26 feet 4 1 2 inches 8 03 m Confident that he would not top his first jump he passed on his last four chances Beamon grew up in New York City He was also a good basketball player when he was young He once said that when he was in elementary school everybody always wanted him to be on their team In 1965 during his senior year in high school Beamon was ranked second in the United States in the long jump He received a scholarship to the University of Texas-El Paso Three years later he would make history Between 1901 and 1968 the world record in the long jump had been broken 13 times Usually the record jump Bob Beamon left and Ralph Boston huddle under blankets to stay dry as they watch the remaining jumpers try to break Beamon’s new world record 8
