Bob Beamon – Bygone Olympics
I remember being woken up by my Dad one night in 1968. He shook me awake and said, “I just thought you would like to know that Bob Beaman has leapt over the sandpit”. It was amazing – the world record has since stood for twenty three years. It was such a long jump that the measuring equipment wasn’t sufficient – they had to measure it by hand. 8.9 metres was unheard of and even Beamon couldn’t believe it. The Mexico Olympics saw quite a few records but Beamon’s is the most extraordinary.
Bob Beamon’s Olympic records kept for 40 years but Mike Powell jumped 8.95m at the world championships in 1991, breaking Beamon’s World Record.
About the Author
Steve Haywood is a personal trainer from Yorkshire – you can find out more about him here.
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[...] especially in a major competition such as the Olympics, it may be won by a massive leap as with Bob Beaman or in a closely contested competition with no particularly spectacular [...]
[...] such as some of the Africans. Most people who watched the games will have an enduring memory of Bob Beamon’s long jump. He broke the world record by 55cms with a leap of 8.9 metres. A lesser known fact is that the [...]