Bob Beamon

Robert "Bob" Beamon

Robert "Bob" Beamon, 1992
Personal information
Nationality	United States
Born	(1946-08-29) August 29, 1946 South Jamaica, Queens, New York
Sport
Sport	Track and field
Event(s)	Long jump
College team	UTEP Miners
Medal record Men's Athletics Competitor for the  United States Olympic Games Gold 1968 Mexico City Long jump Pan American Games Silver 1967 Winnipeg Long jump
Updated on 6 August 2012.

Robert "Bob" Beamon (born August 29, 1946) is an American former track and field athlete, best known for his world record in the long jump at the Mexico Olympics in 1968, which remained the world record for 700122000000000000022 years, 7002316000000000000316 days until it was broken in 1991 by Mike Powell. This is the second longest holding of this record, as Jesse Owens held the record for 25 years, 1935–1960.

Early life

Robert "Bob" Beamon was born in South Jamaica, Queens, New York. He was raised by his grandmother, who told him about his mother who died at 25 from tuberculosis, when Beamon was only 8 months old. He later found out that his mother was physically abused by his father. He was sent to his grandmother's because his father threatened to kill Beamon if his mother took him home.

When he was attending Jamaica High School he was discovered by Larry Ellis, a renowned track coach. Beamon later became part of the All-American track and field team. In 1965, he ranked second in the long jump in the United States, and received a track and field scholarship to the University of Texas at El Paso.^[1]

Beamon was suspended from the University of Texas at El Paso, for refusing to compete against Brigham Young University, alleging it had racist policies. This left him without a coach, and fellow Olympian Ralph Boston began to coach him unofficially.^[2]

1968 Summer Olympics

Beamon entered the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City as the favorite, having won 22 of the 23 meets he had competed in that year, including a career best of 8.33 m (equivalent to 27 ft. 4 in.) and a world's best of 8.39 m (27 ft. 6 1/2 in.) that was ineligible for the record books due to excessive wind assistance. He came close to missing the final, overstepping on his first two attempts in qualifying. With only one chance left, Beamon re-measured his approach run from a spot in front of the board and made a fair jump that advanced him to the final. There he faced the two previous gold-medal winners, American Ralph Boston (1960) and Lynn Davies of Great Britain (1964), and two-time bronze medallist Igor Ter-Ovanesyan of the Soviet Union.^[3]

On October 18, Beamon set a world record for the long jump with a first jump of 8.90 m (29 ft. 2 1/2 in.), bettering the existing record by 55 cm (21 3/4 in.). When the announcer called out the distance for the jump, Beamon – unfamiliar with metric measurements – still did not realize what he had done.^[4] When his teammate and coach Ralph Boston told him that he had broken the world record by nearly 2 feet, his legs gave way and an astonished and overwhelmed Beamon suffered a brief cataplexy attack brought on by the emotional shock,^[5] and collapsed to his knees, his body unable to support itself, placing his hands over his face. In one of the more enduring images of the Games, his competitors then helped him to his feet.^[6] The defending Olympic champion Lynn Davies told Beamon, "You have destroyed this event," and in sports jargon, a new adjective – Beamonesque – came into use to describe spectacular feats.^[7]

Prior to Beamon’s jump, the world record had been broken thirteen times since 1901, with an average increase of 6 cm (2 1/2 in.) and the largest increase being 15 cm (6 in.). Beamon's world record stood for 23 years until Mike Powell broke it in 1991. One journalist called Beamon "the man who saw lightning." ^{[citation needed]} Sports journalist Dick Schaap wrote a book about the leap, The Perfect Jump.

Beamon landed his jump near the far end of the sand pit but the optical device which had been installed to measure jump distances was not designed to measure a jump of such length. This forced the officials to measure the jump manually which added to the jump's aura. Shortly after Beamon's jump a major rainstorm blew through making it more difficult for his competitors to try to match Beamon's feat. None were able to do so. Klaus Beer finished second with a jump of 8.19 m (26 ft. 10.4 in.).

In making his record jump, Beamon enjoyed a number of advantageous environmental factors.^[8] At an altitude of 2240 m, Mexico City's air had less resistance than air at sea level, although the rarefied atmosphere in Mexico City would have made a difference of only approximately 4 cm. In addition to Beamon's record, world records were broken in most of the sprinting and jumping events at the 1968 Olympic Games. Beamon also benefited from a tail wind of 2 meters per second on his jump, the maximum allowable for record purposes. It has been estimated that the tail wind and altitude may have improved Beamon's long jump distance by 31 cm (12.2 in.).^[8] During the same hour Lee Evans set the world record for 400 metres that lasted for almost 20 years.

After winning the gold medal in Mexico City, he never again jumped over 8.22 m (26 ft. 11 3/4 in.).

Beamon's jump was the only time the world record has been set in Men's Olympic Long Jump competition, though Robert LeGendre did set the record as part of the pentathlon competition in 1924 and women have done it three times (1956, 1964 and 1968).

Beamon's world-record jump was named by Sports Illustrated magazine as one of the five greatest sports moments of the 20th century. His world record was finally broken in 1991 when Mike Powell jumped 8.95 m (29 ft. 4 3/8 in.) at the World Championships in Tokyo, but Beamon's jump is still the Olympic record and 45 years later remains the second longest wind legal jump in history.

Later life

Shortly after the Mexico City Olympics, Beamon was drafted by the Phoenix Suns basketball team.^[9] In 1972 he graduated from Adelphi University with a degree in sociology ^[10]

Beamon has worked in a variety of roles to promote youth athleticism, including collaborations with former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Beamon's work at the athletic programs of several universities. He is currently the chief executive of the Art of the Olympians Museum in Florida.

Honors

Beamon is in the National Track and Field Hall of Fame, and when the United States Olympic Hall of Fame started to induct athletes in 1983, Beamon was one of the first inductees.^[10]

References

Further reading

• Beamon, Bob, and Milana Walter Beamon. (1999). The Man Who Could Fly: The Bob Beamon Story. Columbus, MS: Genesis Press. ISBN 1-885478-89-5.
• Schaap, Dick. (1976). The Perfect Jump. New York, NY: New American Library.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bob Beamon.

• Video of Jump on YouTube

Records
Preceded by Ralph Boston Igor Ter-Ovanesyan	Men's Long Jump World Record Holder October 18, 1968 – August 30, 1991	Succeeded by Mike Powell
Awards
Preceded by Jim Ryun	Track & Field Athlete of the Year 1968	Succeeded by Bill Toomey
Achievements
Preceded by Igor Ter-Ovanesyan	Men's Long Jump Best Year Performance 1968	Succeeded by Igor Ter-Ovanesyan Waldemar Stepian

v t e 1968 USA Olympic Track & Field Team Qualification 1968 United States Olympic Trials (track and field) Men's track & road athletes Jack Bacheler Wade Bell John Carlos Leon Coleman Willie Davenport Ronald Daws Bob Day Thomas Dooley Lee Evans Thomas Farrell Ron Freeman Boyd Gittins Charles Greene Ervin Hall Rudy Haluza Jim Hines Larry James Goetz Klupfer Ronald Kutchinski Ron Laird Thomas Laris Marty Liquori Vincent Matthews Kenny Moore Van Nelson Conrad Nightingale Mel Pender Larry Questad William Reilly David Romansky Jim Ryun Lou Scott Ronnie Ray Smith Tommie Smith Tracy Smith Geoff Vanderstock Tom von Ruden Ronald Whitney George Young Larry Young Men's field athletes Bob Beamon Ralph Boston Reynaldo Brown Edward Burke Gary Carlsen Casey Carrigan Ed Caruthers Hal Connolly Frank Covelli Dick Fosbury Albert Hall David Maggard Randel Matson Charles Mays Mark Murro Al Oerter John Pennel Bob Seagren Jay Silvester Richard Don Sloan David Smith George Stenlund Norman Tate Bill Toomey Thomas Waddell Arthur Walker George Woods Women's track & road athletes Margaret Bailes Doris Brown Lois Ann Drinkwater Julie Mae Dyer Barbara Ferrell Francie Kraker Madeline Manning Mildred Netter Mamie Rallins Jarvis Scott Esther Stroy Patty Jean Van Wolvekaere Women's field athletes RaNae Bair Estelle Baskerville Sharon Callahan Olga Fikotova Connolly Barbara Ann Frederick Cathy Hamblin Eleanor Montgomery Carol Moseke Maren Seidler Martha Rae Watson Willye White Pat Winslow Coaches —