At the 2012 Olympics in London, Rutherford reached the final with a jump of 8.08 m, qualifying in fourth place. In the final, he took the lead in the second round with a jump of 8.21 m, improving to 8.31 m in the fourth round which proved to be the winning jump. Rutherford became the second British man to win Olympic gold in the long jump, the first was Lynn Davies in 1964. Although his winning distance of 8.31 m was the shortest since 1972, it was 15 cm ahead of silver medallist Mitchell Watt and his second-best jump of 8.21 m would also have been enough to win the gold. Rutherford's gold was one of three won by British track and field athletes on the evening of 4 August 2012 (the others were won by Jessica Ennis in the heptathlon and Mo Farah in the men's 10,000 m); this was the first time that three gold medals had been won by British athletes in the same Olympic athletics session.