Discover the legends of athletics in our monthly feature On the Shoulders of Giants.
Bob Beamon
Bob Beamon collapsed to his knees, his hands clung to his face as he curled up on the track, teammates and officials trying to prise him to his feet. Beamon had suffered a brief cataplexy attack, his legs giving way and paralysing his muscles. The attack was brought on by a wave of emotion as he realised what he had achieved. Beamon had produced a jump for the ages. He had not just broken the Long Jump World Record; he had completely obliterated it. By producing a jump of 8.90m, he had bettered the existing record by 55cm. It was a record that would stand for 23 years.
The U.S. Long Jumper Bob Beamon undoubtedly entered the 1968 Mexico City Olympics as one of the favourites. His pre-games form seeing him win 22 of 23 events. The competition for Gold included Beamon’s friend, mentor and U.S. teammate, the 1960 Gold medallist and joint world record holder, Ralf Boston, and the Soviet Union sensation, the athlete whom Boston shared the World Record, Igor Ter-Ovanesyan. However, Beamon’s qualifying did not go smoothly and after two fouls, a final jump of 8.19m saw him make the final. The expectations on the 22-year-old Beamon’s shoulders had led to a nervousness and anxiety that he had rarely felt in his career. Advice from Ralf Boston had helped him through the qualifying round, but he couldn’t expect the same in the final.
The pressure mounted for Beamon and the night before the final he decided to hit the town for a drink to calm the nerves. Although, Beamon’s misadventures have probably been exaggerated somewhat with the passing of time, his own account of events in his 1999 biography ‘The Man Who Could Fly’, describes how he went out and had a few shots of tequila. He later admitted he ‘had committed the cardinal sin in sports,’ by not preparing correctly for the moment in his life he worked so hard for. The next day Beamon cast aside any guilt and decided to get down to business.
At 3:45pm on Friday 18th October 1968, Bob Beamon stood at the runway before his first jump in the Long Jump final. Looking relaxed, Beamon took long deep breaths. The conditions were perfect with the wind speed just inside the legal limit. Beamon’s smooth, easy style run disguised the pace at which he was moving. He hit the board perfectly and took off through the air, landing in a forward momentum that ensured he did not fall back into the sand. Just 6 seconds had passed from take-off to landing.
Beamon knew it was long, the adrenalin was flowing as he bounced out of and around the pit, skipping away confidently to wait for the measurement. Five minutes passed and the judges still deliberated. Ten minutes and still no word. Then fifteen minutes after Beamon’s jump, the officials called for a manual tape. This looked promising for Beamon and he felt he had the World Record, his teammate Boston let him know it was long. Finally, the scoreboard flashed up 8.90m New WR but Beamon worked with non-metric measurements so he still didn’t know how far he had jumped. “29 feet 2.5 inches Bob”, Beamon raced around uncontrollably before collapsing on the track, all his life’s efforts culminating at the biggest stage in the most dramatic fashion. Gold a certainty and legendary status assured.
Tadhg Crowley
5 November 2022