ESPN.com: King Carl had long, golden reign King Carl had long, golden reign By Larry Schwartz Special to ESPN.com Carl Lewis has always amazed us. By distinguishing himself in two seemingly simple actions -- jumping and running -- for the longest time, he became unlike any competitor. With his unsurpassed talent in the long jump and his speed in the sprints, he has gone places where no other track and field athlete has ever visited. Carl Lewis capped his remarkable Olympics career by winning gold in the long jump at Atlanta in 1996. He didn't lose in the long jump for a decade, winning 65 consecutive competitions. He won four gold medals at the 1984 Olympics, equaling the 1936 accomplishment of his hero, Jesse Owens. He sped to a world record in the 100 meters. And then, when it appeared to be time for him to leave the jumping to younger athletes, he fooled us. "You try to give a man a gold watch, and he steals your gold medal instead.

You ask him to pass the torch, and he sets your Olympics on fire," Sports Illustrated's Rick Reilly wrote about Lewis, at the age of 35, winning his fourth consecutive Olympic long jump in 1996. That unexpected and stunning victory gave Lewis his ninth Olympic gold medal, tying him for the largest gold collection with U.S. swimmer Mark Spitz, Finnish long-distance runner Paavo Nurmi and Soviet gymnast Larysa Latynina. Yet, through all his triumphs, Lewis never came to be embraced by the country. He never became his sport's ambassador, his sport's Magic Johnson. He came across as haughty and arrogant, cold and calculating, aloof and abrasive. We like our heroes to display at least a minimum of modesty (see Michael Jordan), though it is not necessary to have the unpretentiousness of a Lou Gehrig. The quest for perfection in most athletes is seen as a positive. In Lewis, it came across as a negative. "He rubs it in too much," said Edwin Moses, two-time Olympic gold medalist in the 400 hurdles. "A little humility is in order.

That's what Carl lacks." That lack of humility never made up for Lewis being handsome and articulate, of having stayed clean in a dirty sport, of being a crusader against steroid use. Lewis, like Frank Sinatra, did it his way. But unlike Sinatra, he didn't have the charm to go with the talent. ZONE POLL "Lewis' liberating cool liberates him, not necessarily us," wrote Sports Illustrated's Kenny Moore. "We might understand him best as forged by the 100, holding on to his solitude until the pack falls away." Frederick Carlton Lewis was born July 1, 1961, in Birmingham, Ala., and raised in Willingboro, N.J., a suburban, middle-class, racially mixed environment. Bill and Evelyn Lewis raised Carl and his three siblings with the premise that they didn't have to bend to authority just because it's authority. "We don't like outside influence," said Carl's older brother Cleve, "and we don't like control." Carl was seven when Bob Beamon set the remarkable record - 29 feet, 2½ inches at the 1968 Olympics -- that would possess Lewis for his career. He competed in track on the town club his parents coached.

When he was 10, he and a cousin had their picture taken with Owens, who advised him to have fun. Small for his age (his younger sister Carol called him "Shorty") and shy, Lewis sprouted so suddenly at 15 (2½ inches in a month) that he had to walk with crutches for three weeks while his body adjusted. As a high school senior, his 26-8 leap broke the national prep long-jump record. Lewis went to the University of Houston, instead of local track power Villanova, to become more independent. By 1981 he was No. 1 in the world in the 100 meters as well as the long jump. Two years later, he won the 100, 200 and long jump at the U.S. national championships, the first person to achieve this triple since Malcolm Ford in 1886. The 6-foot-2, 173-pound Lewis had even grander plans for the 1984 Olympics: four gold medals. First came the 100 meters.

With a burst that was clocked at 28 mph at the finish, Lewis won by an incredible eight feet -- the biggest margin in Olympic history -- in 9.9 seconds. Lewis captured the long jump with his first leap -- 28-¼ into the wind. After fouling on his second attempt, Lewis, who had six races behind him and five more to go, passed on his last four jumps. The fans in Los Angeles didn't care about his heavy schedule; they booed him for not challenging Beamon's record. Lewis won the 200 in a then-Olympic record 19.80 seconds and completed his quest by running a 8.94 anchor leg on the victorious 4x100 relay team. But that L.A. gold didn't turn into as much green as Lewis had expected. The endorsements he had counted upon didn't come (at least in the U.S.; he did much better in Europe and Japan). Lewis was hurt by his own attitude, as well as by his agent comparing him to Michael Jackson. No one had ever successfully defended either the long jump or 100-meter title in the Olympics. Lewis won both in 1988.

Competing in the long jump final just 55 minutes after he qualified in the preliminaries of the 200, Lewis finished first with a leap of 28-7¼. In the 100, Lewis was beaten to the finish line by Ben Johnson, who ran a remarkable 9.79 seconds. But the steroid-using Canadian was stripped of the gold medal for failing a drug test, and Lewis was moved up to first. His 9.92 seconds was listed as the world record. Lewis, whose two-year winning streak in the 200 had been snapped at the Olympic Trials when he was beaten by training partner Joe DeLoach, was overtaken in the '88 Olympic 200 by DeLoach with 30 meters left and lost by .04 seconds. Lewis never got an opportunity to go for the gold in the 4x100 as the U.S. was disqualified in the first round (without Lewis) for an improper baton pass. The 1991 World Championships in Tokyo were quite incredible -- in both the 100 meters and long jump. Lewis won one and lost the other.

In the 100, six runners broke 10 seconds, with Lewis leading the pack after a mighty finish. "He passed us like we were standing still," said runner-up Leroy Burrell. For the first time in his life, after going undefeated in the long jump for a decade, after winning six Olympic gold medals, Lewis had at last set an untainted, unshared world record (since broken) with his 9.86 seconds. "The best race of my life," Lewis said. "The best technique, the fastest. And I did it at 30." But Lewis' 10-year unbeaten streak in the long jump came to an end five days later, even though he put together the greatest series of jumps in history. Lewis had never before reached 29 feet, and this day he did it three times, including 29-2¾ (wind-aided) and 29-1¼ (against the wind). But Mike Powell, who had lost 15 consecutive times to Lewis, unleashed the longest jump in history -- 29-4½.

At the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Lewis exacted revenge on Powell, who had the record that Lewis craved, when he edged him by 1¼ inches with a leap of 28-5½. Lewis won his eighth gold medal by anchoring the record-setting 4x100 relay team. But eight wasn't enough for him. Lewis, who qualified third in the 1996 Olympic Trials in the long jump, showed he still had one huge leap left in him. His 27-10¾ at Atlanta was his longest jump at sea level in four years. "Lewis beat age, gravity, history, logic and the world at a rocking Olympic Stadium in Atlanta to win the Olympic gold medal in the long jump," Reilly wrote. "It was quite possibly his most impossible moment in an impossibly brilliant career." Bob Beamon's World Record Long Jump - 1968 Olympics - YouTube Bob Beamon's World Record Long Jump - 1968 Olympics Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. Rating is available when the video has been rented.

This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Uploaded on Jan 21, 2010 USA's Bob Beamon breaks the world record in the long jump by nearly two feet during the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games. Category Carl Lewis Bio, Stats, and Results | Olympics at Sports-Reference.com Related Olympians: Brother of Carol Lewis . Medals: 9 Gold, 1 Silver (10 Total) Biography Carl Lewis is considered by many to be the greatest track & field athlete of all time and, with nine Olympic gold medals, 10 Olympic medals, and eight gold medals at the World Championships, it is a justifiable claim. His Olympic gold medals came in 1984 (100 metres, 200 metres, 4×100 metres relay, long jump), 1988 (100 metres, long jump), 1992 (4×100 metres relay, long jump), and 1996 (long jump). His four victories in 1984 matched the record set by [Jesse Owens] at the 1936 Olympic Games.

In 1996 at Atlanta, Lewis ended his Olympic career by equalling [Al Oerter]'s record of winning the same Olympic event four times consecutively, with Lewis's feat occurring in the long jump. At the World Athletics Championships, Lewis won the 100 metres, long jump and ran on the winning 4×100 relay team in 1983 and 1987. In 1991, he repeated in the 100 and the relay, but finished second to [Mike Powell] in the greatest long jump duel in history. In that event, Lewis set his lifetime personal best of 8.87 (29-1¼), but lost out to Powell, who with a mark of 8.95 (29-4), broke the legendary world record set by [Bob Beamon] at the 1968 Olympics. Lewis also competed at the 1993 World Championships, finishing third in the 200.

At the Pan American Games he won bronze (1979) and gold (1987) in long jump and was also a member of the gold medal winning 4×100 relay team (with [Lee McNeill], [Harvey Glance], and the non-Olympian Lee McRae) in 1987. Lewis twice set individual world records at 100 metres (1988, 1991), although his 1988 world record came at the Seoul Olympics when he initially finished second behind [Ben Johnson]'s presumed world record, although Johnson was disqualified for doping the next day. In relays he was a member of teams that posted world records at 4×100 metres six times and 4×200 metres three times. Although almost universally considered the greatest long jumper ever, he never set a world record in that event. In addition to his 1991 World Championships personal best, Lewis was denied that record in 1982, when he won the USOC National Sports Festival.

Lewis had a jump estimated by most knowledgeable observers to be beyond 30 feet (9.14), but it was controversially ruled a foul, although no mark was found on the plasticine beyond the take-off mark. Despite his performances, Lewis never achieved great popularity among fans in the United States, and even world-wide his ability outstripped his appeal. He made some attempts to start a pop singing career, but with almost disastrous results, although he has appeared in a few movies. He did become wealthy from his athletics career and many athletes credit Lewis with increasing performance fees in the sport. Personal Bests: 100 – 9.86 (1991); 200 – 19.75 (1983); LJ – 8.87 (29-1¼) (1991). Results Olympic history: Men’s long jump by Steve Smythe July 31, 2016 We take a look at the history of the men’s long jump at the Olympic Games 1896-2012 Ellery Clark was the inaugural winner in Athens in 1896.

He struggled at first with two no jumps as Prince George of Greece, who was superintending the event, disallowed any marks to be made to aid run-up strides as it was deemed to be too professional! This third and final jump of 6.35m gave him the title, though. In Paris in 1900, qualifying marks were allowed to count and world record-holder Meyer Prinstein won silver with a 7.17m jump though he didn’t compete in the final as it was a Sunday and was prohibited from jumping by his university team even though he himself was Jewish. US team-mate Alvin Kraenzlein pipped him for gold by just one centimetre. In 1904 Prinstein had no such problems competing in the final and won in St Louis with an Olympic record 7.34m, taking gold by 45 centimetres. Prinstein defended his title in Athens and USA also dominated in London in 1908 as they had five of the top six places headed by Frank Irons’ 7.48m.

USA had only five of the top seven in Stockholm as they made it six wins in six Games with Albert Gutterson upping the Olympic record to 7.60m and just missing the world record by a centimetre. Distances were down in Antwerp in 1920 and it featured the first US loss as William Pettersson won with a modest 7.15m. America were back on top in Paris in 1924 as William Hubbard won with 7.44m, though pentathlete Robert LeGendre notably jumped a world record of 7.77m in the five-event contest. Edward Hamm advanced the world record to 7.90m and then improved the Olympic record to 7.73m in winning gold in Amsterdam in 1928. Edward Gordon, who had been seventh in 1928, won gold in Los Angeles in 1932. In 1935, Jesse Owens set a world record of 8.13m – a mark that would last for 25 years.

In Berlin the following year, home crowd favourite Luz Long matched him for two rounds as both jumped Olympic records of 7.87m but Owens responded to the competition to take gold with 8.06m, much to the disgust of a watching Adolf Hitler and his Aryan supremacy theory. Post-World War II from London 1948 to Melbourne 1956, the USA took gold and won two medals but none of the winners could come anywhere close to Owens’s 1936 mark. That changed in 1960 as Ralph Boston finally broke Owens’s record with an 8.21m leap two weeks before the Rome Games. Boston won gold in Italy with an Olympic record 8.12m but only won by a single centimetre from team-mate Irvin Roberson as four jumpers bettered 8 metres and 26 feet for the first time. USA lost out for the first time in 44 years in 1964 (see British successes) but won again in 1968 (see most memorable Olympics).

Teenager Randy Williams won in Munich 1972 with a first round 8.24m and bronze medallist Arnie Robinson did better four years later as his 8.35m gave him victory over Williams. The boycott meant there were no USA jumpers in Moscow in 1980 but there was still an exceptional performance as East German Lutz Dombrowski won with the first actual 28 foot jump as his 8.54m went second all-time. In 1984, East Germany was absent but Carl Lewis matched Dombrowski’s mark. Curiously Lewis got booed by the American crowd for passing the last four rounds to save himself for his other events as he also won 100m, 200m and relay golds in Los Angeles. In 1988, Lewis had narrowly won the US trials with an 8.76m leap by two centimetres from Larry Myricks and then in Korea he won with an 8.72m jumping less than an hour after a 200m heat.

Mike Powell finished second in Seoul then shocked Lewis in the greatest contest in history in the 1991 World Championships as he broke Beamon’s world record with 8.95m to end his rival’s 10-year sequence of victories over 65 competitions. The pair were close again in Barcelona in 1992 as Lewis opened with an 8.67m which proved sufficient although Powell almost snatched gold with an 8.64m Lewis was not in the same shape for Atlanta 1996 and was only third in the US trials, a centimetre ahead of fourth but he showed his great competitive mettle to have his best jump for four years and win with a 8.50m leap and make history with his fourth successive gold and match discus thrower Al Oerter. Ivan Pedroso would have been favourite in 1996 but wasn’t at his best after injury and finished 12th. The 1995, 1997 and 1999 world champion snatched gold in Sydney in 2000 with his final jump of 8.55m.

For the first time ever – barring the 1980 boycott – the US failed to medal. They were back on top for Athens in 2004 as world champion Dwight Phillips won a quality competition with the first eight bettering 8.20m – the previous Olympic best was four. The USA was also out of the medals in 2008 as Irving Saladino became Panama’s first ever Olympic athletics champion. British successes Ireland’s Patrick Leahy, competing for Britain, took bronze in the 1900 Games in Paris. The top Irish jumper Peter O’Connor was entered, didn’t compete, but broke the world record shortly after the Games. O’Connor remained Irish record-holder for 90 years. O’Connor did take part in the 1906 Games in Athens and was upset to find he had to compete for Britain rather than Ireland and complained to the IOC. He won silver with a 7.02m jump though protested the American judge had wrongly declared a foul for what would have been a winning leap. Having complained before and during, he also made protestations after as he climbed the flagpole and tore down the British flag at the medal ceremony and replaced it with an Irish flag!

While the first British medals were really Ireland’s, they finally won a more genuine medal in Tokyo in 1964, though this time it was a Welsh athlete. Defending champion and world record-holder Ralph Boston was favourite but America failed to win their 15th gold in 16 Games as Lynn Davies adapted better to the cold and windy conditions. He jumped a lifetime best of 8.07m to move up from third to first and then had to watch as Boston came close with 8.03m in his final jump and Soviet Igor Ter-Ovanesyan also came close. He became the first ever Welshman to win Olympic gold. Chris Tomlinson was fifth in 2008 and Greg Rutherford was third best in qualifying in Beijing in 2008 with 8.16m but could only jump 7.84m for tenth in the final. He showed better form in London in 2012 to win the first English long jump medal and in front of a delighted crowd on Super Saturday he won gold alongside Mo Farah and Jess Ennis.

He took the lead with an 8.21m second round and then improved to 8.31m in the fourth to win easily. Tomlinson finished sixth just five centimetres from winning a medal. Most memorable Olympic long jump: Mexico 1968 In the previous 33 years, the world record had advanced just 22 centimetres. That changed in the altitude of Mexico as in one single jump, the record improved by 55 centimetres or 22 inches. Though the three medallists from 1964 were back, American Bob Beamon was the favourite but had a reputation for being inconsistent. He barely got through qualifying after two initial fouls but in the first round, with the benefit of perfect 2.0m/sec following wind, he sprinted hard down the runway and, he hit the board perfectly and then flew through the air like no previous other jumper. The jump was measured at 8.90m, which many believed was the greatest athletic performance in history. Not only was it the first ever jump of over 28 feet in history, it was also the first jump over 29 feet.

Beamon didn’t realise the magnitude of his jump initially but when he did he collapsed with shock. His competitors fell apart mentally and found it hard to respond though East German Klaus Beer, who wasn’t expected to medal, had fewer problems and jumped a 8.19m PB to take the silver. Ralph Boston won bronze for his third successive medal. Beamon’s 8.90m would last as a world record for 23 years and even 48 years later, the record has advanced just five centimetres and Beamon still lies second-all time. He never jumped further than 8.20m again. » Check out editions of Athletics Weekly magazine from September 24, 2015, for more from our ‘Countdown to Rio’ series » For the full Olympic history: Men’s long jump feature, including a complete list of medallists and further facts and stats, see the March 24, 2016, edition of AW magazine Bob Beamon - The Full Wiki The Full Wiki More info on Bob Beamon Wikis Note: Many of our articles have direct quotes from sources you can cite, within the Wikipedia article!

This article doesn't yet, but we're working on it! See more info or our list of citable articles . Related top topics From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Olympic medal record Long jump Robert "Bob" Beamon (born August 29, 1946) is an American former track and field athlete, best known for his long-standing world record in the long jump at the Mexico Olympics in 1968 , which remained the world record for 23 years. This is the second longest holding of this record, as Jesse Owens held the record for 25 years, 1935-1960. Contents 7 External links Early life Bob Beamon was born in South Jamaica, Queens , New York . He was raised by his grandmother, who told him about his mother who died at 25 from tuberculosis, when Beamon was only 8 months old. He later found out that his mother was physically abused by his father. He was sent to his grandmother's because his father threatened to kill Beamon if his mother took him home. When he was attending Jamaica High School he was discovered by Larry Ellis, a renowned track coach. Beamon later became part of the All-American track and field team.

In 1965, he ranked second in the long jump in the United States, and received a track and field scholarship to the University of Texas at El Paso . [1] Beamon qualified for the Olympics four months before he was suspended from the University of Texas at El Paso , for refusing to compete against Brigham Young University , alleging it had racist policies. This left him without a coach, and fellow Olympian Ralph Boston began to coach him unofficially. [2] 1968 Summer Olympics On October 18 at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City , Beamon set a world record for the long jump with a jump of 8.90 m (29 ft. 2½ in.). The record stood for 23 years until Mike Powell broke it in 1991. When the announcer called out the distance for the jump, Beamon — unfamiliar with metric measurements — wasn't affected by it. When his teammate and coach Ralph Boston told him that he broke the world record, an astonished Beamon collapsed to his knees and placed his hands over his face in shock. In one of the more enduring images of the games, his competitors then helped him to his feet.

[3] One journalist called Beamon "the man who saw lightning." Sports journalist Dick Schaap wrote a book about the leap, called The Perfect Jump. Prior to Beamon’s jump, the world record had been broken thirteen times since 1901, with an average increase of 6 cm (2½ in) and the largest increase being 15 cm (6 in) while Beamon's gold medal mark bettered the existing record by 55 cm (21¾ in.). The defending Olympic champion, Lynn Davies of Great Britain , told Beamon, "You have destroyed this event", and in track and field jargon, a new adjective — Beamonesque — came into use to describe spectacular feats. [4] Beamon landed his jump near the far end of the sand pit but the optical device which had been installed to measure jump distances was not designed to measure a jump of such length. This forced the officials to measure the jump manually which added to the jump's aura. Shortly after Beamon's jump a major rainstorm blew through making it more difficult for his competitors to try to match Beamon's feat. None were able to do so. Klaus Beer finished second with a jump of 8.19 m.

In making his record jump, Beamon enjoyed a number of advantageous environmental factors. [5] At an altitude of 2240 m (7349 ft), Mexico City's air had less resistance than air would have at sea level. This allows runners to run faster and jumpers to jump farther. In addition to Beamon's record, world records were broken in most of the sprinting and jumping events at the 1968 Olympic Games. Beamon also benefited from a trailing wind of 2 meters per second on his jump, the maximum allowable for record purposes. Beamon entered the Olympic games as the favorite, having won 22 of the 23 meets he had competed in that year, including a career best of 8.33 m (27 ft. 4 in.). After winning the gold medal in Mexico City, he never again jumped over 8.22 m (26 ft. 11¾ in.) Beamon's world record stood for 23 years, and was named by Sports Illustrated magazine as one of the five greatest sports moments of the 20th century.

Beamon's world record was finally broken in 1991 when Mike Powell jumped 8.95 m (29 ft. 4-3/8 in.) at the World Championships in Tokyo , but Beamon's jump is still the Olympic record and more than 40 years later remains the second longest of all time. Later life Shortly after the Mexico City Olympics, Beamon was drafted by the Phoenix Suns basketball team. [6] In 1972 he graduated from Adelphi University with a degree in sociology [7] He currently lives in Miami, Florida . Honors Beamon is in the National Track and Field Hall of Fame , and when the United States Olympic Hall of Fame started to induct athletes in 1983, Beamon was one of the first inductees.

[7] References 'I believed I could break the record' - Rediff Sports Rediff Sports Read news as it happens Available on Rediff.com » Sports » 'I believed I could break the record' 'I believed I could break the record' Last updated on: July 5, 2011 00:57 IST 'I believed I could break the record' Mike Powell, the world record holder in long jump, opens up to Senior Associate Editor Bikash Mohapatra regarding his longstanding record, his biggest regret and other things He is the holder of one the of oldest athletics' records. Mike Powell jumped 8.95 metres in the IAAF World Championships in Tokyo (Japan) back in 1991. That remains the world record in long jump even after two decades. Also read: Cathy Freeman interview And the American still can't have enough of it. In India, to promote athletics, Powell's hosts played the clip featuring that landmark jump twice over. And along with his many fans, Powell quietly watched the clip with the same enthusiasm. "I never get tired of watching that," confessed Powell, before proceeding to elaborate on that landmark moment.

"The biggest reason why I broke the world record is because I believed I could," he gushed, before negating that he was surprised with his eventual effort considering his compatriot and rival Carl Lewis made the best six-jump series in history ahead of the final. "No, I wasn't surprised at all," explained Powell, adding, "I went into the final knowing that in order to win the competition, I'd probably have to break the world record." The American's effort in the Japanese capital on that fateful day in 1991 ensured his compatriot Bob Beamon's longstanding record a jump of 8.90 metres at the Mexico Olympics in 1968 was finally broken. And now his record has not been broken in 20 years. Image: Mike Powell stands behind long jump record set by Bob Beamon at the 1968 Mexico Olympics. He broke it by 5 cms 92 inches) in Tokyo in 1991 Photographs: Getty Images Prev Next In fact, in the last five decades only four athletes have managed to hold the long jump world record. Asked what is it that makes the long jump record so difficult to break, Powell came up with a pragmatic answer.

"When Bob (Beamon) broke the record, the mark was so high that it took years for athletes to even start thinking about breaking the record," he explained. "When I look at the athletes now and see what they are doing, I don't see them breaking the record," continued Powell, adding, "I mean they are talented but what they are doing doesn't equal what they should be doing. "When I was competing, I was learning. I was getting beaten a lot, by Carl (Lewis) and others jumpers. And I was learning a lot from each of those defeats. "But nowadays they don't have any body to learn from." Image: Bob Beamon of the USA breaking the Long Jump World Record during the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City, Mexico. Beamon long jumped 8.9 m (29 ft 2 1/2 in), winning the gold medal and setting a new world record Photographs: Getty Images Prev Next On the field Powell successfully managed to defend his world title two years later in Stuttgart (Germany), while also managing to secure the bronze in Gothenburg (Sweden) in 1995.

However, if his career was highlighted by those two world titles, there was a huge regret as well. The American could never win an Olympic gold medal, considered by many to be the benchmark for any athlete. Having had the opportunity to compete in the Olympics on three occasions, Powell could only end up with two silver medals in Seoul (1988) and Barcelona (1992) for his efforts. No doubt it remains a huge regret. The American had no qualms about admitting the same. "Oh yeah! Every time I think about the Olympics and not winning the gold medal it makes me very sad," admitted Powell, adding, "I should have won in 1992. "But it was a strategic mistake on my part I warmed up too hard and my body broke down completely afterwards and Carl (Lewis), being the great athlete that he was, knew how to handle the situation. "He had competed in three Olympics already and it was my first. The first time I was a star, the first time people were asking me to sign autographs and the first time things were so different." Image: Mike Powell Prev Next The American then made an effort to camouflage the regret with a tinge of optimism.

"I knew that I did my best and that's all I can say," said Powell, adding, "Had I not tried my best then I would have had some regrets. "But I tried my best and lost to one of the greatest athletes of all time (Lewis) by three cms 8.67 metres to 8. 64 metres. "You win gold sometimes with that distance. But then you can't have all." In the course of his explanation a palpably emotional Powell had turned a tad philosophical. "But that's part of life," he continued, adding, "That's the good thing of being an athlete, a sportsman. It's the microcosm of life. "You have to learn to live with the good and the bad. I got the world record but didn't get the Olympic gold. "But now when I look at it, I see that I competed at the Olympics three times and do have two silver medals. "It is one thing to have success but it's harder to stay up there." Image: Mike Powell Prev Next Powell proceeded on to compliment his compatriot (Carl Lewis). "I was good.

But Carl was the best," admitted the 47-year-old, adding, "I was fortunate that I had the opportunity of competing with him. "I was also unfortunate to have competed against him." His rivalry with Lewis may have prevented Powell from winning a few more golds. It nevertheless made the sport exciting, something that is amiss from long jump these days. Asked if long jump has suffered as a sport in recent years, Powell was circumspect in response. "I don't know if long jump is stagnating," he said, admitting, "It is sad for me to see the state in which the sport is right now. "It is sport where some of the best athletes ever have competed. "I think everything goes in cycles. Maybe the sport is down now. But hopefully things will come up." Image: Mike Powell More Before we could end the conversation it was imperative to ask the legend regarding his views on doping, a scourge in world athletics for many years now. "On most occasions athletes end up using performance enhancing drugs is because their coaches tell them to do so to be able to compete," explained Powell, adding, "As for myself, my coaches told me I didn't need to that.

"I could achieve the results just by working hard." The American then explained the moral aspect. "It's doping and competing - cheating. And to me that matters," explained Powell. "When I talk to my daughters I know I did the right thing," he continued, adding, "Now it's like 'your dad was pretty good.' And I am not lying. "So for me to cheat to win isn't the right thing." The American expressed his satisfaction regarding the steps taken by the governing body to control doping. "Atheletics is one of the few sports which is willing to burst its stars," said Powell, adding, "So it shows we are taking the matter seriously. "If an athlete is trying to use some dope these days, then he is taking a big risk. And that shows athletics is at the fore front in taking control in matters of dope." Image: Mike Powell The jump for the ages | NBC SportsWorld By Nick Zaccardi The jump for the ages Mike Powell broke an iconic record in 1991, supplanting its holder and a legendary long jumper in one bound. And it may never be broken. Mike Powell/Allsport Mike Powell knew the milestone was coming.

On July 11, Powell’s world record in the men’s long jump turned 8,351 days old, and his thoughts traveled back to its birth, Aug. 30, 1991. They often do. The previous world record, etched indelibly by Bob Beamon at the 1968 Olympics, turned 8,351 days old on Aug. 30, 1991. Powell snapped it that night, in Tokyo during a World Championships epic event with Carl Lewis. Powell has now held the world record longer than Beamon did, and nobody is currently jumping close to it. “It’s lasted 23 years,” Powell, an avowed stat geek, said in a recent phone interview. “I didn’t think it would last 23 minutes.” Neither did Beamon on Oct. 18, 1968. *** As storm clouds gathered, Bob Beamon bowed, stepped back, leaned forward and accelerated down a runway for his first Olympic final jump at Mexico City’s Olympic Stadium . “It felt like a regular jump,” he told Sports Illustrated 46 years ago.

Beamon loped 19 strides and launched off the takeoff board like nobody had ever seen. Jesse Owens, peering through binoculars inside the stadium, estimated Beamon leapt vertically five to six feet, according to SI. Beamon fell to Earth. His white shoes dug into the landing pit, six seconds after his first step down the runway. Momentum carried Beamon to three mini jumps out of the pit. He jogged away, wiggling his arms and receiving one low-five before reaching a bench. Then he waited. Bob Beamon. Mexico City. 1968. (Credit: Tony Duffy /Allsport) The jump was so long, so unexpected, that the measuring device couldn’t extend far enough to record it. It took about a half-hour to locate and lay out tape to confirm what Beamon figured, that he’d broken the world record of 27 feet, 4 3/4 inches. Officials announced the mark in meters – 8.90 – but Beamon, not fully versed in metrics, couldn’t fathom it. He has said he thought it might have been a shot put mark.

Teammate Ralph Boston, the 1960 Olympic champion, broke the news to him: Beamon leaped clear past 28 feet, to 29 feet, 2 1/2 inches. He shattered the record by nearly two feet. Beamon collapsed to his knees and covered his eyes in disbelief. Descriptions of the feat have since ranged from a “mutation” performance by a medical expert; to being in “the twilight zone” by Beamon; to what “might be the clearest instance of adrenaline-driven overachievement that the sports world has ever seen” by SI. Perhaps the best came on Oct. 18, 1968, from one of Beamon’s competitors to SI. “Compared to that jump, the rest of us are children,” said Igor Ter-Ovanesyan of the Soviet Union, who ceded his share of the world record that day. Mexico City marked Beamon’s first and last Olympics, nine months before man landed on the moon. He never again jumped 27 feet, partially due to injury. *** Beamon has said he expected his world record to be broken “in the next 30 minutes” at the Olympics.

The conditions were ripe, jumping at an altitude more than 7,000 feet above sea level. Beamon also benefited from the maximum allowable tailwind for record purposes, 2 meters per second. But nobody challenged it in Mexico City. In fact, nobody would jump within a foot of Beamon through the 1970s. Then came Carl Lewis, whose prodigious talent was rivaled by his steadfast confidence that he would one day break Beamon’s record. Lewis would win four straight Olympic long jump gold medals from 1984 through 1996, along with five more in the sprints. Officially, he never beat Beamon’s mark, but Lewis maintains the record book lies. He and others point to the National Sports Festival in Indianapolis on July 24, 1982. “Carl jumped 30 feet,” NBC Olympics track and field analyst Dwight Stones said. “I was right there.” Stones, then a high jumper, said long jumper Jason Grimes approached him in the infield before Lewis sprinted down the runway that day. “You want to see a 30-foot jump?” Grimes told Stones.

“You better watch right now.” Lewis just about proved Grimes prophetic with his leap, but an official raised a red flag, indicating a foul on Lewis’ takeoff. “We were crestfallen,” Stones said. Lewis and Stones both said the official erred in ruling that Lewis’ foot nudged over the foul line, even though it left no mark in the foul area. A foul could only be called if a mark was left, Lewis argues to this day. Nevertheless, Lewis’ imprint was raked before it could be measured. He insists it was farther than Beamon’s world record, if not 30 feet. Lewis’ very next jump was legal, and it was the second-longest ever at the time, 28 feet, 9 inches. “Not getting the record that day worked out better for me in my career anyway,” Lewis says now, still remembering an ABC 20/20 investigative report titled , “The Perfect Jump,” with an Israeli-born physicist dissecting video of his magical foul. “It told me you could break the record if you really, really want to. That day changed the way I look at my career.” Beamon’s record withstood the challenge.

Lewis won the first of four straight Olympic long jump golds two years later, but it was Soviet Robert Emmiyan who scared Beamon with a 29-foot jump in May 1987. ”When I heard about that, something came over me,” Beamon said in a press conference one week later, according to The New York Times. ”I felt it’s evident my record will be gone soon. I’ve been preparing myself for that day.” Beamon readied to hand it over to Lewis, who had not set a personal best in five years but was in the midst of a 10-year, 65-meet winning streak. *** Mike Powell said he met Bob Beamon twice before the summer of 1991, in 1985 and 1989, according to The New York Times. Powell, a basketball standout as a boy like Beamon, said he saw the world record holder one more time a month before the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo. He spotted him in the crowd at one of his competitions. “I remembering saying, I’m going to show Bob Beamon how far I can jump,” Powell said.

“I remember looking up in the stands, and he’s leaving! What?!? You’re going to leave while I’m jumping?” Powell, who says even today that his “whole life story is being the underdog,” took it as a slap in the face. At the time, Powell was the 1988 Olympic silver medalist and the No. 4 American on the all-time list, behind Beamon, Lewis and Larry Myricks. Beamon said then he didn’t follow the sport close enough to recognize Powell. They would soon get very acquainted. *** Powell rarely has an extended time without seeing highlights of the 1991 World Championships long jump in Tokyo, considered by many the greatest head-to-head duel in track and field history. “But every single time I see it, I go right back to the moment,” he says now, giddiness still in his voice. “I smell the air in the stadium.” What does it smell like? “Have you ever been in the South, and there’s a storm about to come, and the air gets real thick?” Powell asked. “There was a typhoon in the city.

So the air was electric.” Powell came to Tokyo with an 0-15 career record against Lewis, but he felt more confident than ever to finally get on the scoreboard on Aug. 30, 1991. He led Lewis until the final jump during an event two months earlier, until Lewis summoned a last-gasp leap to win by a single centimeter. It was Lewis’ best jump since the 1988 Olympics. “I demonized Carl,” Powell said. “When we were in a room together, I always thought we were about to fight. He might not have known I was even there.” The long jump didn’t start until the seventh day of competition in Tokyo. So, while Lewis focused on the 100 meters the first few days, Powell focused on himself, plodding through the athletes’ village without making eye contact with anyone. “I already had my game face on,” Powell said. “I was jumping over and over and over again in my head.” There’s written proof. He was asked to sign an autograph after his final gym workout before the competition. “Mike Powell, personal best 8.66,” he wrote, using metric as he usually did overseas.

Then, he added a new line before putting the pen down. “1991 World Championships 8.95?” Powell felt sure he would break Beamon’s 8.90m world record. He was less confident he would win the gold medal. Four nights before the long jump final, Lewis won the 100m in 9.86 seconds, snatching the world record back from countryman Leroy Burrell in what was then the fastest race in history. In long jump qualifying the day before the final, Lewis leaped more than a foot farther than anybody else. He then approached his coach, Tom Tellez. “Look, I want to go break the world record,” in the final, Lewis recalled, “and I’m never going to jump again. I’m just going to sprint. It’s too hard [balancing sprints, the long jump and “the management” part of his career].” Track and field meets are likened to a three-ring circus. Throws, jumps and races can run simultaneously. Often, field events take a backseat to sprints. But not in Tokyo. Press box binoculars were fixed on the runway on Aug. 30.

“All the elements were there for a great battle,” Stones said. “I think everybody in the stadium was holding their collective breaths, as was Powell.” Powell jumped before Lewis in the 13-man order. He gritted his teeth on the runway for the first of his six attempts, set to plow through a swirling wind. His first jump was deplorable, not even 26 feet. He said he was so amped up he was almost hyperventilating. Powell moved into second place on his second jump, but Lewis responded with the longest jump of his career on his third. Lewis improved to 28 feet, 11 3/4 inches, just 2 3/4 inches behind Beamon, but with too much tailwind for record purposes . Powell, so error-prone he used to be called “Mike Foul” by his coach, was over the board on his fourth. Lewis sat on the edge of the back of the runway to watch from behind. “I saw [Lewis],” Powell said.

“I looked at Carl like, I’m getting you today.” Lewis then surpassed Beamon’s hallowed record by one centimeter on his fourth jump, but again with too much tailwind, 2.9 meters per second. Lewis’ eyes popped when the distance flashed on the scoreboard. “If this man gets a legal wind, he might just break Beamon’s record,” Stones said in astonishment on the broadcast. Lewis had just posted the greatest back-to-back long jumps in history. He put on his sweats and sat on the grass to watch Powell’s fifth. Mike Powell during the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo. (Credit: Mike Powell/Allsport) Powell puffed his cheeks, waved his arms like a pro wrestler on a ring walk, attacked the runway and propelled off the board with room to spare. He panged as his body arched back in the air with Beamon-esque height. He gave in to gravity and dug into the dirt with a thud that caused screams from a crowd of some 60,000. “That explosion,” Stones called it. “That bomb.” Powell immediately rose from the pit, raising his arms, pointing his fingers and roaring with focused intensity. The wind reading flashed in yellow numbers.

A legal 0.3 meters per second. Powell clapped as he awaited the distance reading. Lewis, in the same sitting position as when Powell embarked on the runway not 30 seconds earlier, stood up. Then Powell saw it — 8.95 — a new world record. Powell cleared Beamon by two inches with a 29-foot, 4 1/2-inch jump close to sea level, and with very little wind at his back . “Everything I did during my whole life until that point was encapsulated in that jump,” Powell says now. “Everything in my life that I had not achieved. Every girl that turned me down for a date. Every time I didn’t learn something. That was my moment to show the world.” Powell heard another sea of screams and jaunted on the track, past advertising boards for Coca-Cola, Philips and Fujifilm. It didn’t take long to realize it wasn’t a victory lap, though. Lewis, who by then had disrobed his navy blue sweatshirt, had two jumps left.

“[Lewis] was the guy who could sink a full-court shot at a buzzer to win a game,” said longtime track and field writer Dick Patrick, who covered the Tokyo meet for USA Today. “He was like Michael Jordan. Carl was like Tiger Woods, even five shots behind in the last round of the U.S. Open, you still think he could have a chance to win.” Lewis thought the same. He planned to leap farther than Powell, finally take the world record and retire from the long jump with that 10-year unbeaten streak. “Zero doubt,” Lewis says now. Powell agreed. “I fully expected Carl to come back and jump 29-6, 29-7,” he said. He almost did. Lewis’ fifth jump was the longest legal jump of his career — 29 feet, 1 1/4 inches — but still behind Powell and Beamon. Powell — the stat geek and time freak — measured the wait for Lewis’ sixth and final jump on a watch (5 minutes, 31 seconds, reports said). “Please,” he pleaded before Lewis’ finale, bowing his head and folding his fingers in prayer. Lewis’ last attempt fell short, 29 feet even.

Second place for King Carl. Powell vanquished Lewis, dethroned Beamon and celebrated like NC State coach Jim Valvano after the 1983 NCAA Championship Game. Powell ran wildly and bear hugged the first stranger he came in contact with — the foul judge. “You’re going to need a crowbar to get this smile off my face,” Powell said while on the infield. *** Bob Beamon’s phone rang around 7 a.m. on Aug. 30, 1991, with the news he had feared for years. Ron Freeman, his 1968 Olympic teammate, delivered it. “For a moment, I thought Ron had an apple in his throat,” Beamon said then. “Obviously, there was something he wanted to tell me, but he didn’t quite know how to begin.” Beamon felt confused, not by the record falling, but by who broke it. He had always thought it would be Lewis. (Even though the story goes that Powell’s coach introduced himself to Beamon years earlier by saying, “I’m the guy who’s going to coach the guy who’s going to break your world record.”) “They said my record would never be broken,” Beamon says now.

“I’ve always looked at it as records will always be broken.” Powell’s whirlwind of voicemails, media and insomnia lasted through that weekend. He broke the record on a Friday night. On Monday, he was back home in California and awake before dawn for a CBS morning show appearance with Beamon. The pair shared meaningful conversation for the first time. Beamon says he has no recollection of it today, which is interesting, given Powell said at the time that Beamon broke into tears and told Powell that he loved him. They barely talked about jumping or track and field. Rather, they shared passions for music and basketball. “I think [Beamon] carried around a tremendous burden for 23 years, and that day was like having a weight lifted from his shoulders,” Powell told SI in 1991. “It felt like he was passing the torch on to me.” *** Powell went into the 1992 Olympic year thinking a 30-foot jump might be possible, especially with Lewis there to push him. But neither Powell nor Lewis jumped farther than 28 feet, 7 inches, the rest of their careers. Powell suffered a back injury in his first serious outdoor meet of 1992.

Then it was a hamstring. Then a heel. Lewis won the 1992 Olympic long jump on his first jump, 28 feet, 5 inches. Powell took silver, again, an inch behind. Powell defended his World Championship in 1993, without Lewis in the competition. Then came July 29, 1995. Powell woke to a phone call, not unlike the one Beamon received four years earlier. Cuba’s Ivan Pedroso had jumped a new world record, he was told, 8.96 meters in the Italian Alpine village of Sestriere . Pedroso was a solid jumper, fourth as a 19-year-old at the 1992 Olympics, but that was nearly a foot past his previous best. Powell said Sestriere is the best place to jump in the world. It’s in thin air nearly a mile high, with a fast runway and often heavy tailwinds.

(Powell’s farthest ever jump was in Sestriere in 1992, 29 feet, 6 inches, with 4.4 meters per second of wind, more than twice the legal limit.) Italian media quickly questioned Pedroso’s jump, reporting a man standing in front of the wind gauge on the Cuban’s attempts. There were 60 long jumps and triple jumps at the meet, and 56 exceeded the maximum allowable wind for record purposes. Three of the four legal jumps were Pedroso’s, including the “record” jump at 1.2 meters per second, according to 1995 reports. Italy’s track and field federation didn’t even bother submitting the jump to the sport’s international governing body for world record ratification, given the circumstances. Powell kept the record despite that brief scare. His grip on it has only strengthened the last two decades. No man has jumped with seven inches of Powell in the last 23 years. In 2012, Great Britain’s Greg Rutherford won the Olympic long jump with an 8.31-meter leap (27 feet, 3 inches), the shortest jump to win Olympic gold since 1972.

That regression is an anomaly in a sport where most standing world records don’t last more than a decade or were set by dubious Soviet, Chinese or East German athletes in the late 1980s and early 1990s. “I have the oldest record in the books, as far as I’m concerned,” Powell said. Jesse Owens’ career-best from 1935 would have won the 2012 Olympic bronze medal. “We’re not progressing,” Lewis said. “In what other event could someone who competed 80 years ago still be competitive?” Of the greatest all-time long jumpers, and analysts such as Stones, it’s Lewis who is most adamant about why the long jump is not what it used to be. He listed several reasons. The best young athletes are gravitating to sprints. There’s nobody in the event setting a standard for others to chase, like Lewis throughout the 1980s. In the simplest terms, the long jump is hard and everyone has settled into a comfort zone. “Think about running 25 miles per hour and taking your body in the air and then the ground,” Lewis said. “It is torture.

A lot of people can’t take the physical demands, and they can’t take the technical part of it. If you can get through those two aspects, you get to the third stage — the fear factor. To jump far, you have to leave the board in a way that you feel like you could land on your face.” Many wonder how Usain Bolt would perform with a decent amount of training in the long jump. For years, Powell has thought the Jamaican has all the tools to become the first man to jump nine meters — with the right coaching. “He could easily do it in a year if I was working with him,” Powell said. “The main thing for him is just getting him to learn how to land. … The long jump is about turning speed into vertical lift — speed times height equals distance. He’s the tallest guy back there [6 feet, 5 inches], the fastest guy ever, and he can jump [search “Bolt dunking” on YouTube]. The only reason he shouldn’t do it is because he could get hurt.” It is very doubtful Bolt would consider the long jump.

A more curious case is that of German Markus Rehm, who jumped a personal best 7.35m in 2012 and improved to 8.24m this year. Rehm, 26, jumps off a prosthetic right leg. He won Paralympic gold in 2012 and the able-bodied German National Championships this year. But Germany’s track and field federation left him off its roster for the European Championships, citing a possible competitive advantage. “It wouldn’t be fair,” if Rehm breaks the world record, Powell said. “But it would be sweet to see.” *** Another matter up for debate is this question: Who is the greatest long jumper of all time? Is it Powell, who had the single greatest jump in history? Is it Lewis, who had the greatest series of jumps in history, and the longest stretch of dominance, with four Olympic gold medals? Is it Beamon, the man who set the standard by taking the event into uncharted territory? Is it Owens, who held the world record for 25 years? “Who do I think is the greatest of all time?

That’s for other people to say,” Lewis said, adding, “If I hadn’t come along, I don’t think the event would have changed.” Powell said it’s Lewis. “He was kicking everybody’s butt for almost 10, 12, 15 years,” Powell said. “Carl was the reason why the record got broken because he was the segue between Bob and me. “But I’m second.” Beamon said it’s Powell. “What do you mean by the greatest? What are the ingredients that go into it?” Beamon said. “To me, it’s Mike.” Lewis and Powell must both live with holes in their careers, thanks to each other. Lewis is the second-most decorated Olympic track and field athlete ever with 10 medals, including nine golds and four in the long jump. He doesn’t regret missing the long jump world record as much as he does being left off the U.S. Olympic 4x100m relay team at Atlanta 1996. Lewis hoped to shoot for a record-breaking 10th Olympic track and field gold medal, despite finishing eighth in the 100m at the Olympic Trials. The U.S.

won silver without him, .36 behind Canada, a margin so great that Lewis’ presence wouldn’t have made a difference. Powell is one of the greatest track and field athletes never to win an Olympic gold medal. His silver medal-winning distance behind Lewis in 1992 would have won every subsequent Olympic long jump competition. Powell said he wouldn’t trade his world record for three of Lewis’ gold medals. Four? Maybe. “I’m always going to be upset because I didn’t win the gold medal, and that was my goal,” Powell said. Lewis feels “horrible” for Powell. Beamon does too. “When I see Mike, I say to myself, you know, as great as an athlete he was and having the greatest distance of all of us, including the great Carl Lewis, I was wishing that he would have had that opportunity to win a gold medal in the Olympic Games,” Beamon said. “That’s the ultimate. I’m wondering how Mike really feels about that, if he felt like that was the only thing missing from him being recognized as being the great one.” *** In two years, Powell will likely pass Owens for owning the long jump world record for the longest stretch of time.

Also in two years, Beamon hopes a documentary in production about his life, “Behind the 8.9,” will come out. It would celebrate Beamon’s longest-standing Olympic track and field record in advance of the Rio 2016 Games. After his competitive career, he did some TV work and became a director of an Olympians museum in Florida. “I guess I never really retired,” Beamon said. “I am an ambassador to adidas. I have a contract with the IOC. I stay busy.” Lewis and Powell are still chasing the long jump record – as coaches. Lewis is an assistant under Leroy Burrell at the University of Houston, his alma mater. Remember, Lewis beat Burrell in the 1991 World Championships 100m, taking back the 100m world record from Burrell. “My legacy as a long jumper will not be how far I jumped,” Lewis said. “My legacy will be how far the people I coached jumped. I’m putting that pressure on myself.” Powell teaches at the Academy of Speed in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. “I want to see the record broken because I’m a fan of the sport,” Powell said.

“If I’m coaching him [the man to break the world record], I’m going to be really happy. My goal is to get somebody.” *** Powell and Lewis returned to Japan for a sports summit in March 2013. There, a TV station asked Powell to long jump in an exhibition against “some in-shape, 37-year-old dude,” Powell said. The request surprised Powell, but he took part anyway, jumped 18 feet and almost hurt himself. Powell was 247 pounds and motivated by the embarrassment. He’s lost 55 pounds in the last 18 months and dunked off two feet on his 50th birthday last November. Powell is feeling so fit that he’s training again with an eye on breaking the long jump world record — the Masters world record for age 50 and over. That’s 6.84 meters, or 22 feet, 5 1/4 inches. He’ll go after it in New Zealand early next year. “I’m going to obliterate it,” Powell said. Share this: This beer's on Beamon This beer's on Beamon — Aug.

5, 2016 12:48 PM EDT You are here Home » This beer's on Beamon Share The prize for winning the Olympic long jump: A gold medal, of course. And maybe a beer, too. At the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, Bob Beamon shocked the world, and himself, with a world record-setting long jump that nobody saw coming. His mark of 29 feet, 2 1/2 inches broke the previous mark _ a mark that for decades moved higher by mere fractions -- by more than 21 inches. It stood for nearly 23 years. It's still the Olympic record. As part of a cheeky promotion to celebrate ``International Beer Day,'' which happens to fall on the same day as the Olympics Opening Ceremony, Beamon is offering a beer to anyone who might break his mark. Given the way long jump works, he might be drinking alone. Since Mike Powell bettered Beamon's jump in 1991, nobody has come close to either record. His own accomplishment aside, Beamon figures odds are the Olympics are not the place the record is most likely to be broken.

``I think most athletes live to win an Olympic gold medal,'' Beamon said. ``I've seen athletes come in seeded No. 1 and walk away with nothing. You have to be real, real careful and focused on why you're there.'' SEE FULL ARTICLE WASHINGTON Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. 38.8951-77.0364 WASHINGTON (AP) — Relatives of Jesse Owens and America's 17 other black athletes from the 1936 Olympics were welcomed to the White House on Thursday by President Barack Obama for the acknowledgement they didn't receive along with their white counterparts 80 years ago. Along with the relatives of the 1936 African-American Olympians, gloved-fist protesters Tommie Smith and John Carlos and members of the 2016 U.S. Olympic and Paralympic teams met the president and first lady Michelle Obama. Obama congratulated the Rio athletes, thanked Smith and Carlos for waking up Americans in 1968 and praised 1936 Olympians who made a statement in front of Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany. Sep.

29, 2016 6:31 PM EDT TOKYO Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. 35.6895139.692 TOKYO (AP) — An expert panel set up by Tokyo's newly elected governor says the price tag of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics could exceed $30 billion unless drastic cost-cutting measures are taken. That's more than a four-fold increase from the initial estimate at the time Tokyo was awarded the games in 2013. Sep. 30, 2016 9:02 AM EDT WASHINGTON Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. 38.8951-77.0364 WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Olympic athletes would be exempt from a so-called victory tax under legislation approved by Congress and sent to the president. Sep. 29, 2016 3:20 PM EDT

Question: Who broke the world long jump record by 55 cm when winning the Olympic Gold medal in 1968?
Answer: Bob Beamon