9781422273685

LAST CHANCE QUALIFIER

Universitario, but Beamon didn’t know the conversion of metric into feet and inches. Then Beamon’s jump posted as 29 feet, 2 ½ inches, sending the American running around in excitement. His jump broke the old record by 55 centimeters, or 21 ¾ inches. The long jump record had only increased by a little more than 8 inches over the previous 35 years. Beamon’s world record stood for 23 years before Mike Powell of the USA broke it in 1991 by just 2 ½ inches. Powell’s mark remains a world record 29 years later. Beamon’s jump at Mexico City in 1968 remains the Olympic record.

History almost never happened for Beamon in the 1968 Games. During the round to qualify for the finals, Beamon fouled on his first two jumps and needed to stick his last attempt to make the finals. Beamon adjusted his approach and landed at 8.19 meters, which was second best among those entering the finals behind teammate Ralph Boston.

TROUBLED YOUTH

Beamon had a troubled childhood. His mother died when he was a baby, and with his stepfather in jail, he was raised by his grandmother in gang territory in Queens, New York. After punching a teacher, he ended up in reform school. At age fifteen, things changed for Beamon when he discovered the long jump and the path that took him to college and Olympic glory.

Bob Beamon • USA Track and Field

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