THE long jump has featured at every Olympic Games since 1896.
The event is contested by both men and women, but who hold the world records?
Who holds the world record for the longest long jump?
The world record for men’s long jump is 8.95 metres, set by Mike Powell in the 1991 world athletics championships in Tokyo, Japan.
The American finally overtook the mark set by Bob Beamon after 23 years.
However US athlete Beamon is still the Olympic record holder, leaping 8.90 metres on his way to winning the gold medal in 1968 in Mexico.
The world record for women’s long jump is 7.52 metres, set by Slovakia athlete Galina Chistyakova in Saint Petersburg (then called Leningrad) in 1988.
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Jacqueline Joyner-Kersee is the Olympic record holder for the women’s long jump, with a jump of 7.40 metres that saw her win the gold medal at Seoul 1988.
Who is Mike Powell?
Mike Powell is an American athlete who has held the long jump world record since 1991.
He was born on November 10, 1963, and is married to Canadian 400-metre hurdler Rosey Edeh.
Despite holding the world record and winning two world championship gold medals, Powell never became Olympic champion, having to settle for a silver medal in 1988 and 1992.
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Who is Galina Chistyakova?
Galina Chistyakova is a former long jumper who represented the Soviet Union and later Slovakia.
She holds the world record for women in the event, jumping 7.52 metres on June 11, 1988.
Despite holding the record for long jump, Chistyakova fell short in her attempts to become Olympic champion, with her best finish resulting in a bronze medal in Seoul 1988, the same year she set the record.
What is Usain Bolt’s long jump?
Despite announcing intentions to compete in this event before his retirement from athletics in 2017, Usain Bolt has never set a recorded jump.
He was filmed having a go at the long jump during a meet in Ostrava in 2017, but his distance wasn’t recorded.
Powell was quoted in 2017 as saying that Bolt “could have long jumped nine metres had he trained for it” due to his pace and strength over a short distance.
Source: Athletics - thesun.co.uk
