The
men's long jump was an event at the
1984 Summer Olympics
The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the secon ...
in
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
. There were 31 participating athletes from 25 nations, with two qualifying groups, and the final held on August 6, 1984.
The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by
Carl Lewis
Frederick Carlton Lewis (born July 1, 1961) is an American former track and field athlete who won nine Olympic gold medals, one Olympic silver medal, and 10 World Championships medals, including eight gold. His career spanned from 1979 to 1996, ...
of the United States, the nation's 17th gold medal in the event. It was Lewis's second gold of the Games as he tried (successfully) to match
Jesse Owens
James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens (September 12, 1913March 31, 1980) was an American track and field athlete who won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympic Games.
Owens specialized in the sprints and the long jump and was recognized in his lifet ...
's 1936 quadruple (100 metres, 200 metres, 4 × 100 metres relay, and long jump). It was also the first of Lewis's four consecutive gold medals in the long jump.
Gary Honey
Gary Ronald Honey (born 26 July 1959 in Thomastown, Victoria) is a retired long jump
The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff ...
gave Australia its first men's long jump medal since 1948;
Giovanni Evangelisti won Italy's first-ever medal in the event.
Background
This was the 20th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. The only returning finalist from the 1980 Games was seventh-place finisher
Antonio Corgos of Spain. American
Carl Lewis
Frederick Carlton Lewis (born July 1, 1961) is an American former track and field athlete who won nine Olympic gold medals, one Olympic silver medal, and 10 World Championships medals, including eight gold. His career spanned from 1979 to 1996, ...
was the clear favorite; in the four years since the 1980 Games (which he qualified for but would not have been a favorite at if the United States had competed) he had become "the greatest track & field athlete in the world" with wins in the 100 metres, long jump, and 4 × 100 metres relay at the inaugural 1983 world championships. His teammate
Larry Myricks, who ''would'' have been the favorite in 1980 but for the boycott and would likely have medaled in 1976 but for a broken foot in warmups, was a significant challenger, as was
Gary Honey
Gary Ronald Honey (born 26 July 1959 in Thomastown, Victoria) is a retired long jump
The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff ...
of Australia, the 1982 Commonwealth champion.
Cameroon, Chad, the People's Republic of China, Cyprus, Kenya, Mali, Paraguay, and the United Arab Emirates each made their first appearance in the event; the Republic of China appeared for the first time as "Chinese Taipei". The United States appeared for the 19th time, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.
Competition format
The 1984 competition used the two-round format with divided final introduced in 1952. The qualifying round gave each competitor three jumps to achieve a distance of 7.90 metres; if fewer than 12 men did so, the top 12 (including all those tied) would advance. The final provided each jumper with three jumps; the top eight jumpers received an additional three jumps for a total of six, with the best to count (qualifying round jumps were not considered for the final).
[Official Report, vol. 2, p. 286.]
Records
The standing world and Olympic records prior to the event were as follows.
No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition.
Schedule
All times are Pacific Daylight Time
The Pacific Time Zone (PT) is a time zone encompassing parts of western Canada, the western United States, and western Mexico. Places in this zone observe standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time ( UTC−08:00) ...
( UTC-7)
Results
Qualifying
Final
See also
* 1982 Men's European Championships Long Jump (Athens)
* 1983 Men's World Championships Long Jump (Helsinki)
* 1984 Men's Friendship Games Long Jump (Moscow)
* 1986 Men's European Championships Long Jump (Stuttgart)
* 1987 Men's World Championships Long Jump (Rome)
References
External links
Official Report
{{DEFAULTSORT:Athletics at the 1984 Summer Olympics - Men's long jump
L
Long jump at the Olympics
Men's events at the 1984 Summer Olympics