The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat for landing. Since ancient times, competitors have successively improved their technique until developing the universally preferred Fosbury Flop, in which athletes run towards the bar and leap head first with their back to the bar.
The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down the track and performs a hop, a bound and then a jump into the sand pit. The triple jump was inspired by accounts of lengthy jumps at the ancient Olympic Games and has been a modern Olympics event since the Games' inception in 1896.
Robert Beamon is an American former track and field athlete, best known for his world record in the long jump at the Mexico City Olympics in 1968. By jumping 8.90 m, he broke the existing record by a margin of 55 cm and his world record stood for almost 23 years until it was broken in 1991 by Mike Powell. The jump is still the Olympic record and the second-longest in history unassisted by wind.
Richard Douglas Fosbury was an American high jumper, who is considered one of the most influential athletes in the history of track and field. He won a gold medal at the 1968 Summer Olympics, revolutionizing the high jump event with a "back-first" technique now known as the Fosbury flop. His method was to sprint diagonally towards the bar, then curve and leap backward over the bar, which gave him a much lower center of mass in flight than traditional techniques. Debbie Brill was developing her similar "Brill Bend" around the same time. This approach has seen nearly universal adoption since Fosbury's performance in Mexico. Though he never returned to the Olympics, Fosbury continued to be involved in athletics after retirement and served on the executive board of the World Olympians Association.
Ralph Harold Boston was an American track athlete who received three Olympic medals and became the first person to break the 27 feet (8.2 m) barrier in the long jump.
Viktor Danilovich Saneyev was a Georgian triple jumper who competed internationally for the USSR. He won four Olympic medals – three golds and one silver (1980). Saneyev set the world record on three occasions. He was born in Sukhumi, Georgian SSR, trained in Sukhumi and Tbilisi, and died in Sydney.
Dwight Edwin Stones is an American television commentator and a two-time Olympic bronze medalist and former three-time world record holder in the men's high jump. During his 16-year career, he won 19 national championships. In 1984, Stones became the first athlete to both compete and serve as an announcer at the same Olympics. Since then, he has been a color analyst for all three major networks in the United States and continues to cover track and field on television. He served as an analyst for NBC Sports coverage of Track and Field at the 2008 Summer Olympics. He is a member of the US Track Hall of Fame, the California Sports Hall of Fame, the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, and the Orange County Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.
Giuseppe Gentile is a retired Italian triple jumper, who won a bronze medal at the 1968 Summer Olympics.
Wolfgang Nordwig is a former East German pole vaulter. He competed in the 1968 and 1972 Olympics and won a bronze and a gold medal, respectively, clearing 5.50 m in 1972.
The men's triple jump at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 18–21 August at the Beijing Olympic Stadium. Thirty-nine athletes from 26 nations competed. The event was won by Nelson Évora of Portugal, the nation's first medal and victory in the men's triple jump. Leevan Sands's bronze medal was the Bahamas' second bronze in the event, with the previous one in 1992.
The men's triple jump event at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, had an entry list of 25 competitors, with two qualifying groups before the final (12) took place on Friday July 30, 1976. The top twelve and ties, and all those reaching 16.30 metres advanced to the final. The qualification round was held in Thursday July 29, 1976. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress.
Christian Taylor is a retired American track and field athlete who competed in the triple jump and has a personal record of 18.21 m, which ranks 2nd on the all-time list.
Will Claye 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 World Indoor Championships and 2018 IAAF World Indoor Championships. In his Olympic debut at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Claye won a bronze medal in long jump and a silver medal in triple jump. He repeated his silver medal in the triple jump four years later. His personal best of 18.14 m, set at the Jim Bush Southern California USATF Championships in Long Beach on June 29, 2019, ranks him as the No. 4 triple jumper of all time.
The men's long jump event at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich was held on 8 & 9 of September. Thirty-six athletes from 25 nations competed. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by 6cm by Randy Williams of the United States, the nation's second consecutive and 15th overall gold medal in the men's long jump. Hans Baumgartner earned West Germany's first medal in the event.
The men's triple jump event at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich was held on 3 & 4 of September. Thirty-six athletes from 28 nations competed. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by Viktor Saneyev of the Soviet Union, the fourth man to repeat as Olympic champion in the triple jump. The Soviets were on the podium in the event for the sixth consecutive Games. Jörg Drehmel of East Germany won the first men's triple jump medal by any German jumper. Nelson Prudêncio of Brazil was the ninth man to win a second medal in the event, following up his 1968 silver with bronze in Munich.
The men's high jump field event at the 1972 Olympic Games took place on September 9 and 10 at the Olympiastadion in Munich, Germany. Forty athletes from 26 nations competed. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by Jüri Tarmak of the Soviet Union; he was the last man to win an Olympic gold medal using the straddle technique. The more popular and more widely used Fosbury Flop technique was the most common technique used.
The men's triple jump competition at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Mexico took place on October 16–17. Thirty-four athletes from 24 nations competed. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by Viktor Saneyev of the Soviet Union, the first time the nation had won gold in the event. Saneyev began a decade of dominating the Olympic triple jump; he would win again in 1972 and 1976 as well as taking silver in 1980. Nelson Prudêncio's silver was Brazil's first medal in the event since 1956; Giuseppe Gentile's bronze was Italy's first men's triple jump medal ever.
The triple jump at the Summer Olympics is grouped among the four track and field jumping events held at the multi-sport event. The men's triple jump has been present on the Olympic athletics programme since the first Summer Olympics in 1896. The women's triple jump is one of the more recent additions to the programme, having been first contested in 1996. It became the third Olympic jumping event for women after the high jump and long jump.
William Tennant Brown was an American triple jumper, long jumper and sprinter. Between 1936 and 1943 he won six national outdoor championship titles in the triple jump and three in the long jump. He was the long jump world leader in 1941 and held the American record in the triple jump from 1941 to 1956. He competed in the triple jump at the 1936 Summer Olympics, placing 17th.
Darrell Horn is an American track and field athlete known for jumping events. He was the silver medalist in the long jump at the 1963 Pan American Games. As a long jumper Horn also finished second in the American championships twice, 1963 and 1965, each time beaten by world record holder Ralph Boston. He also competed in the Olympic Trials twice in the long jump 1960 and 1964, finishing in fifth place both times. He ranked in the worldwide top 10 six times between 1960 and 1966, peaking at #4 in 1963.
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