Dubbed by many as the ‘Leap of the Century’ Bob Beamon‘s long jump remained the world record for 22 years, 316 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.
U.S. Olympians Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their black-gloved fists in support of black power on the medals podium, after they had finished first and third in the 200 meters at the Summer Olympics in Mexico City.
As they turned to face their flags and hear the American national anthem (The Star-Spangled Banner), they each raised a black-gloved fist and kept them raised until the anthem had finished. Smith, Carlos and Australian silver medalist Peter Norman all wore human rights badges on their jackets. In his autobiography, Silent Gesture, Tommie Smith stated that the gesture was not a “Black Power” salute, but a “human rights salute”. The event is regarded as one of the most overtly political statements in the history of the modern Olympic Games.
“One chance is all you need.” – Jesse Owens
“It is better to look ahead and prepare than to look back and regret.” – Jackie Joyner-Kersee
On September 24, 1988, Ben Johnson won the 100m final at the Summer Olympics in Seoul, lowering his own world record to 9.79 seconds. Johnson would later remark that he would have been even faster had he not raised his hand in the air just before he finished the race. However, Johnson’s urine samples were found to contain stanozolol, and he was disqualified two days later. He later admitted having used steroids when he ran his 1987 world record, which caused the IAAF to rescind that record as well. Johnson and coach Francis complained that they used doping in order to remain on an equal footing with the other top athletes on drugs they had to compete against. In testimony before the Dubin inquiry into drug use, Francis charged that Johnson was only one of many cheaters, and he just happened to get caught. Later, six of the eight finalists of the 100-meter race tested positive for banned drugs or were implicated in a drug scandal at some point in their careers: Carl Lewis, who was given the gold medal, Linford Christie, who was moved up to the silver medal and who went on to win gold at the next Games, Dennis Mitchell, who was moved up to fourth place and finished third to Christie in 1992, and Desai Williams, Johnson’s countryman who won a bronze medal at the Los Angeles Games in 1984. In the ESPN documentary ESPN 30 for 30 Films: 9.79*, eventual silver medallist Christie states, and footage of the race shows, that Lewis “ran out of his lane… two or three times” during the race, which should have resulted in Lewis’ automatic disqualification.
Johnson’s coach, Charlie Francis, a vocal critic of the IOC testing procedures, is the author of Speed Trap, which features Johnson heavily. In the book, he freely admits that his athletes were taking anabolic steroids, as he claims all top athletes at the time were, and also claims that Johnson could not possibly have tested positive for that particular steroid since Johnson actually preferred furazabol. He thought stanozolol made his body “feel tight”. The numerous athletes using performance enhancing drugs at the time understood how long before a race, and possible drug test, they should stop using the drugs. Johnson later claimed that Andre Jackson, Lewis’ club mate at the Santa Monica Track Club who is shown to have somehow made it into the drug testing area in Seoul, had placed the stanozolol in one of the beers Johnson drank in order to make urine for his test.
Jackie Joyner-Kersee is retired American athlete, ranked among the all-time greatest athletes in the women’s heptathlon as well as in the women’s long jump. She won three gold, one silver, and two bronze Olympic medals, in those two events at four different Olympic Games. Sports Illustrated for Women magazine voted Joyner-Kersee the Greatest Female Athlete of the 20th century, just ahead of Babe Didrikson Zaharias.
At the 1988 Games in Seoul, Joyner-Kersee set the still-standing heptathlon world record of 7,291 points. Five days later, Joyner-Kersee won her second gold medal, leaping to an Olympic record of 7.40 m (24 ft 3 in) in the long jump.
Video of Joyner-Kersee’s quest to win the gold and set the world record in the 1988 Olympic Decathlon:
“When anyone tells me I can’t do anything, I’m just not listening any more.” – Florence Griffith-Joyner
“The triumph can’t be had without the struggle.” – Wilma Rudolph
Did You Know: In 1960, Wilma Rudolph became the first American woman to win three gold medals at a single Olympic Games.
“Never set limits, go after your dreams, don’t be afraid to push the boundaries, and laugh a lot, it’s good for you.” – Paula Radcliffe
At the 1991 World Championships in Athletics (Tokyo), Mike Powell broke Bob Beamon‘s almost 23-year-old long jump world record by 5 cm (2 inches), leaping 8.95 m (29 ft 4¼ in). The world record still stands, making Powell the fourth person since 1900 to hold the record for over 20 years. His feat earned him the James E. Sullivan Award and BBC Sports Personality of the Year Overseas Personality Award in 1991. He also holds the longest non-legal jump of 8.99 m (29 ft 5¾ in) (wind-aided +4.4) set at high altitude in Sestriere, Italy in 1992.
Powell’s record breaking jump:
AthleticPoetics 