The Long Jump That Broke the Measuring Device

On October 18, 1968, in the long jump final at the Mexico City Olympics, Bob Beamon — a 22-year-old from Queens — took his first attempt and produced 8.90 metres, or 29 feet 2½ inches. He had exceeded the existing world record by 55 centimetres. The prior record had taken nearly 33 years and a chain of small improvements to reach 8.35.

The optical measuring device on the rail beside the pit had a maximum range. Beamon's jump exceeded it. Officials had to wait for a steel tape to be brought out and laid on the sand. When the announcement came, Beamon had no idea what 8.90 metres meant in feet and asked his teammate Ralph Boston, who told him he had broken the world record by nearly two feet. Beamon's legs went out and he dropped to his knees. Doctors attributed the collapse to a brief cataplectic episode brought on by emotional shock.

The conditions were favourable. Mexico City sits at 2,240 metres above sea level, where reduced air resistance helps a long jumper, and Beamon had the benefit of a 2.0 m/s tailwind — exactly the legal limit. So did everyone else in the field. Lynn Davies of Britain, the defending Olympic champion, jumped 8.19 m, almost three quarters of a metre short. He told Beamon afterwards, "You have destroyed this event."

The record stood for almost 23 years. On 30 August 1991, at the World Championships in Tokyo, Mike Powell of the United States jumped 8.95 m, five centimetres further. Beamon's leap is still the Olympic record. Other than Powell's, it remains the longest wind-legal jump in history.