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 commonly 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 ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. 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 30 cm 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. Lewis was a dominant sprinter and lo ...

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, 1913 – March 31, 1980) was an American track and field athlete who made history at the Athletics at the 1936 Summer Olympics, 1936 Olympic Games by becoming the first person to win four gold meda ...

'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 and would prove to be his greatest winning margin for the Olympic long jump. Gary Honey gave Australia its first men's long jump medal since 1948;

Giovanni Evangelisti Giovanni Evangelisti (born 11 September 1961 in Rimini) is a retired long jumper from Italy. His greatest achievements were the Olympic bronze medal in 1984 and three World Indoor bronze medals. He finished fourth at the 1988 Olympics. Biograp ...

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

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 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

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( UTC-7)

Results

Qualifying

Final

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