Moments after adding the world indoor title in Glasgow at the weekend to his Olympic and outdoor world titles, Greek long jumper Miltiadis Tentoglou exploded when asked about World Athletics' (WA) proposed experiment with the take-off board.
WA is considering a format tweak by making changes to the most technical aspect of long jump. It wants to replace the take-off board -- about 20cm wide -- with a much larger take-off zone. While even a minute over-stepping currently will result
Moments after adding the world indoor title in Glasgow at the weekend to his Olympic and outdoor world titles, Greek long jumper Miltiadis Tentoglou exploded when asked about World Athletics' (WA) proposed experiment with the take-off board.
WA is considering a format tweak by making changes to the most technical aspect of long jump. It wants to replace the take-off board -- about 20cm wide -- with a much larger take-off zone. While even a minute over-stepping currently will result in a foul, the change is expected to eliminate foul jumps while measuring the distance jumped from where the athlete takes off on the board.
Tentoglou is far from amused, though. "Long jump right now is a very difficult event because you need to have accuracy to be able to run like a sprinter and hit the board perfectly. This is the hard part of a long jump. The jump itself is easy," he said.
A big crowd-puller in his event, the 25-year-old Greek said if WA went ahead with the rule change, he would quit long jump. "You want to remove the difficult part of the long jump. Long jump will then be the easiest event of all. Maybe it will help guys who foul. For me, it removes all skills of long jump and I don't want to do this. If that happens, I will not do long jump anymore. I will be a triple jumper."
Carl Lewis, arguably the greatest long jumper in history who won gold in four successive Olympics from 1984 to 1996, was dismissive of the proposal. "You're supposed to wait until April 1st for April Fools jokes," was his initial response on X. "The issue has nothing to do with fouling. They are no longer trying to jump far. We jumped
differently. That's why we jumped farther. So the board change will hurt the distances in the long run. A lack of discipline and consistency on the runway that exists will only get worse," Lewis said on X. “Actually, it wouldn't change the distances that much. You would just see more bad jumps measured.” “I guess it supports what I’ve been saying, that the long jump is the most difficult event in track and field. That (proposed rule) would just eliminate the most difficult skill from the event. Just make the basket larger for free throws because so many people miss them. What do you think?”
This even before the proposal has come to the trials stage. At the heart of this plan is an increase in the number of foul jumps in major meets. WA says data from last year’s World Championships in Budapest shows a third of the attempts were no-jumps and this is leading to a decline in spectator interest.
Long jumpers feel bringing in such a change can dramatically alter the character of the event. Men's long jump world records have stood for decades. Bob Beamon's sensational mark of 8.90m achieved in the altitude of Mexico City at the 1968 Olympics stood for 23 years. Mike Powell finally bettered it with a leap of 8.95m at the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo. In 33 years since then, Dwight Phillips has come the closest to the mark (8.74m in 2009).
That's really a long time for a world record to remain, this in an era of rapid advances in sports science that has helped raise performances. And a record remaining unbroken for three decades with no jumper even threatening the mark is an issue for a world body that is looking for ways to boost spectator interest in track and field. "It will be a gamechanger," says Anju Bobby George, who won a long jump world championships bronze in 2003. "Until now athletes' big fear was a foul and without that fear anybody can go out and threaten the world record," she says.
Tinkering with the essence of the long jump won't go unopposed. Measuring from where the athlete takes off on the board means the demand on rhythm will decline. Long jump is about speed, strength, and precision built by honing the technical aspects.
"There are mixed feelings from top athletes. Some are saying it is good because all jumps will be valid while some are saying it should not be changed because long jump is a highly technical event," says Anju. "There have been times when I missed my medals because of small fouls or just touching the board. But I think precision should be there. Don't know how it will work. Also, when an athlete comes on the runway, there is excitement among spectators because they want to see if it will be a foul or not," Anju, who is the Athletic Federation of India vice-president, says.
WA CEO Jon Ridgeon said last month that there are many hurdles to be crossed before any amendment can happen. “We’ll spend this year testing it in real life circumstances with very good athletes. If it doesn’t pass testing, we’ll never introduce it. At the same time, we’re working out ways we can get instant results so you don’t have to wait 20-30 seconds before the result pops up.
"We’ll measure from where the athlete takes off to where they land in the pit. That means every single jump counts. It adds to the jeopardy and drama in the competition."
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