The men's long jump competition at the
2012 Summer Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, United Kingdom was held at the
Olympic Stadium
''Olympic Stadium'' is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games. An Olympic stadium is the site of the opening and closing ceremonies. Many, though not all, of these venues actually contain the words ''Olympic Stadium'' as ...
on 3–4 August. Forty-two athletes from 30 nations competed.
[ The event was won by ]Greg Rutherford
Gregory James Rutherford MBE (born 17 November 1986) is a retired British track and field athlete who specialised in the long jump. He represented Great Britain at the Olympics, World and European Championships, and England at the Commonwealth ...
of Great Britain, the nation's second gold medal in the men's long jump and first medal in the event since winning gold in 1964. Mitchell Watt
Mitchell Watt (born 25 March 1988) is an Australian track & field athlete. His main event is the long jump and holds the current Oceania record for the long jump – 8.54m. He was the first ever Australian long jump medalist at a World Champio ...
won Australia's fourth silver in the event; Australia had never won gold. Will Claye
Will Claye (born June 13, 1991) is an American track and field athlete of Sierra Leonean descent who competes in the long jump and triple jump. He won a bronze medal in 2011 World Championships in Athletics and the gold medals at the 2012 IAAF Wo ...
returned the United States to the podium after a 2008 Games with no American finalists; it was still only the first time that the American team had failed to win the event in two consecutive Games.
Summary
Only two athletes achieved automatic qualifying marks, both of those by Marquise Goodwin
Marquise Derell Goodwin (born November 19, 1990) is an American football wide receiver for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL). He also is an Olympian who competed in the long jump in track and field. He was drafted by ...
and Mauro Vinicius da Silva just one centimeter over the minimum at 8.11. The tight field was spread over less than 20 cm. It took a better second jump at 7.92 to make the final, leaving Russian junior
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and co-world leader Sergey Morgunov on the outside. Defending champion Irving Saladino
Irving Jahir Saladino Aranda (born January 23, 1983) is a Panamanian former long jumper. He was Olympic champion, having won at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and is Panama's first and only Olympic gold medalist. He was world champion in the long j ...
was unable to get a legal jump in, failing to advance.
In the final, none of the top 3 qualifiers were to play a factor. Christopher Tomlinson took the lead in the first round with an 8.06 with Will Claye
Will Claye (born June 13, 1991) is an American track and field athlete of Sierra Leonean descent who competes in the long jump and triple jump. He won a bronze medal in 2011 World Championships in Athletics and the gold medals at the 2012 IAAF Wo ...
in second. In the second round, Greg Rutherford
Gregory James Rutherford MBE (born 17 November 1986) is a retired British track and field athlete who specialised in the long jump. He represented Great Britain at the Olympics, World and European Championships, and England at the Commonwealth ...
took the lead with an 8.21, while Claye jumped a centimeter better than Tomlinson, to hold on to second. Claye's mark was equaled by Michel Tornéus in the third round. The fourth round was when all but two of the finalists hit their best mark, Claye with 8.12 and Rutherford extending his lead to 8.31. Languishing in seventh to that point, Mitchell Watt
Mitchell Watt (born 25 March 1988) is an Australian track & field athlete. His main event is the long jump and holds the current Oceania record for the long jump – 8.54m. He was the first ever Australian long jump medalist at a World Champio ...
did Claye one centimeter better in the fifth round, then improving another three centimeters on his final jump to solidify his hold on the silver medal.
Rutherford's gold medal was the second of three gold medals in one evening for the host country, their most successful day in Olympic history. Rutherford's winning jump of 8.31 was the shortest jump to win the Olympics men's long jump competition since the 1972 Summer Olympics
The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...
.
Background
This was the 27th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. The returning finalists from the 2008 Games were gold medalist Irving Saladino
Irving Jahir Saladino Aranda (born January 23, 1983) is a Panamanian former long jumper. He was Olympic champion, having won at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and is Panama's first and only Olympic gold medalist. He was world champion in the long j ...
of Panama, silver medalist Khotso Mokoena
Godfrey Khotso Mokoena (born 6 March 1985 in Heidelberg, South Africa) is a South African athlete who specializes in the long jump and triple jump.
Early life and family
He started his school education at Shalimar Ridge Primary School in Heide ...
of South Africa, fifth-place finisher Ndiss Kaba Badji of Senegal, sixth-place finisher Luis Felipe Méliz of Spain, seventh-place finisher Roman Novotný of the Czech Republic, eighth-place finisher Greg Rutherford
Gregory James Rutherford MBE (born 17 November 1986) is a retired British track and field athlete who specialised in the long jump. He represented Great Britain at the Olympics, World and European Championships, and England at the Commonwealth ...
of Great Britain, and Louis Tsatoumas
Louis Tsatoumas ( el, Λούης Τσάτουμας, born 12 February 1982) is a Greek long jumper.
Biography
He won his first major senior medal in 2007 at the European Indoor Athletics Championships, where he claimed the silver medal behind ...
of Greece, who had not made a legal mark in the final. Saladino had not had much success since Beijing, however. The two-time defending (and four-time overall) world champion, Dwight Phillips
Dwight Phillips (born October 1, 1977) is an American former athlete and a four-time world champion in the long jump. He was the 2004 Olympic champion in the event. His personal best of 8.74 meters, set in 2009, makes him the joint fifth b ...
of the United States, had been injured in a car accident and did not compete. Mitchell Watt
Mitchell Watt (born 25 March 1988) is an Australian track & field athlete. His main event is the long jump and holds the current Oceania record for the long jump – 8.54m. He was the first ever Australian long jump medalist at a World Champio ...
of Australia had come in second at the 2011 world championships, and in Phillips's absence Watt was a slight favorite over Rutherford.
Georgia and Iran each made their first appearance in the event. The United States appeared for the 26th time, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.
Qualification
A National Olympic Committee
A National Olympic Committee (NOC) is a national constituent of the worldwide Olympic movement. Subject to the controls of the International Olympic Committee, NOCs are responsible for organizing their people's participation in the Olympic Games ...
(NOC) could enter up to 3 qualified athletes in the men's long jump event if all athletes met the A standard, or 1 athlete if they met the B standard. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The qualifying distance standards could be obtained in various meets during the qualifying period that had the approval of the IAAF
World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body for ...
. Both outdoor and indoor meets were eligible. The A standard for the 2012 men's long jump was 8.20 metres; the B standard was 8.10 metres. The qualifying period for was from 1 May 2011 to 8 July 2012. NOCs could also have an athlete enter the long jump through a universality place. NOCs could enter one male athlete in an athletics event, regardless of time, if they had no male athletes meeting the qualifying A or B standards in any men's athletic event.
Competition format
The competition consisted of two rounds, qualification and final. In qualification, each athlete jumped three times (stopping early if they made the qualifying distance of 8.10 metres). At least the top twelve athletes moved on to the final; if more than twelve reached the qualifying distance, all who did so advanced. Distances were reset for the final round. Finalists jumped three times, after which the eight best jumped three more times (with the best distance of the six jumps counted).
Records
, the existing world and Olympic records, and season leading time, were as follows.
No new world or Olympic records were set for this event.
Schedule
All times are British Summer Time
During British Summer Time (BST), civil time in the United Kingdom is advanced one hour forward of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), in effect changing the time zone from UTC±00:00 to UTC+01:00, so that mornings have one hour less daylight, and ev ...
(UTC+1
UTC+01:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +01:00. In ISO 8601, the associated time would be written as 2019-02-07T23:28:34+01:00. This time is used in:
*Central European Time
*West Africa Time
*Western European Summer Time
** B ...
)
Results
Qualifying
Qual. rule: qualification standard 8.10m (Q) or at least best 12 qualified (q).
Final
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics - Men's long jump
Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Long jump at the Olympics
Men's events at the 2012 Summer Olympics