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Hope and a prayer for Beamonesque effort
MUMBAI: Hushed silence descended on the Olympic stadium in Mexico City as the announcer declared the result. There was disbelief — there was no cheering or celebration
MUMBAI: Hushed silence descended on the Olympic stadium in Mexico City as the announcer declared the result. There was disbelief — there was no cheering or celebration as it took some time for the news to sink in.
While it electrified the atmosphere in the stadium soon after, Bob Beamon, whose superhuman effort would soon cause a commotion in the athletics world, was simply standing by the runway, unable to comprehend what the fuss was about as the distance he had jumped in the long jump final was announced in metric measurement and the American was not well versed with it.
Fellow competitor and his coach Ralph Boston ran to Beamon, embraced him and explained what he had achieved. Beamon collapsed on the track, astounded by his effort, the enormity of his achievement rendering him speechless. His rivals helped him to his feet, and one of them, defending champion Lynn Davis, reportedly told Beamon: “You have destroyed this event.”
UNBELIEVABLE FEAT
On that balmy day of October 18, 1968, Beamon achieved what was considered impossible. Experts had felt it was not possible for man to clear 29 feet in long jump. Beamon had leapt to 29 feet and 2½ inches (8.90m), improving the then world record by almost an astonishing two feet (56cm). Between 1936, when Jesse Owens had cleared the 8m mark in the Olympics, and 1968, the record had been improved by only 21 centimetres. Beamon did more than double of that distance on that day.
The current generation may not know much about Beamon and his feat, but just like his predecessor Lynn Davis had said, Beamon really destroyed long jump for ever. Now every success is compared to his ‘Leap of the Century’.
Mike Powell has bettered his World record by leaping to 8.95m at the Tokyo World Championships in 1991 and Carl Lewis bagged an unprecedented four gold medals in long jump in successive Olympics from 1988 to 1996, but Beamon still stands firm in the Olympics. No one, not even Powell or Lewis ever could surpass his record in the Olympics. Beamonesque truly became an apt adjective to describe a spectacular feat.
The long jump competition has not been the same since that day.
SOARING HIGH
There is no visual more mesmerising than that of a human being soaring high in the air off his own steam, or helped by a basic implement like a wooden or fibre-glass pole and landing from a fair height, horizontally or vertically. It gives wings to human beings’ inherent desire to soar.
Thus the long jump, high jump, triple jump and pole vault became a test for speed, strength and flexibility of the lower body. They became part of athletics competitions since the inception of modern Olympics in 1896. Initially, in the four editions starting with 1900 in Paris, standing jump events too were held but they were discontinued after the 1912 Games.
HIGHER AND HIGHER
While Beamon and after him Carl Lewis set standards in long jump that look impossible to surpass, former Soviet polevaulter Sergey Bubka achieved cult status in a 10-year period of domination, setting new records in virtually each outing.
Bubka is the first man to vault over the 6-metre mark, a Beamonesque achievement that looked impossible to repeat. Though with better pole vaults and improved technique many more athletes have crossed the 6- metre mark and France’s Renaud Lavillenie broke Bubka’s World record of 6.15 metres by going a centimetre higher, the Ukrainian star is still regarded as the greatest athlete the event has seen.
Russia’s Yelena Isinbayeva holds the same position — at times she is referred to as the Bubka of women’s pole vault — being the first to cross the 5-metre mark. She has dominated the field in the last decade, winning two Olympic gold medals and a bronze.
Another athlete who made an indelible mark in Olympic field events is American high jumper Dick Fosbury, who introduced the Fosbury Flop, a technique that revolutionised high jump. Though Fosbury bagged only one Olympic gold medal and did not set a world record, many of his successors have used his technique to achieve greater heights.
TRIPLE TREAT
Triple jump gave sports its first Olympic champion as it was the first event to end at the 1896 Games. James Connolly of the United States bagged the gold medal with an effort of 13.71m.
However, the standard was set in the 60s and 70s by athletes from behind the Iron Curtain with triple jumper Viktor Saneyev winning a hat-trick of gold medals from 1968 (Mexico) to 1976 (Montreal). He won silver at Moscow in 1980.
Briton Jonathan Edwards holds the record in the hop, skip and jump discipline with an effort of 18.29 set at the Gothenburg World Championships in 1995, Edwards thus became the first athlete to cross 60 feet in triple jump and his record still stands after a decade as the current lot has struggled to reach the mark.
