One giant leap

Rain fell intermittently over Mexico City on Oct. 18, 1968. The conditions were not ideal for breaking track and field records, but Bob Beamon felt an inner peace and a surge of confidence as he prepared for the long jump finals at the Olympic Games.

“It was one of the few times in my life that I felt like I was going to be a champion,” he said in a telephone interview. “I was not going to be denied. I felt good. I felt positive. I had an incredible spirit.

“I just felt like it was my day.”

It turned out to be not only Beamon’s day, but one of the most memorable days in Olympic history.

Forty years ago, the New York native, then 22, put together the perfect long jump. It was the sort of performance a jumper sees in his dreams, a once-in-a-lifetime combination of blazing horizontal speed and ideal vertical lift.

Beamon took 19 strides down the runway, momentarily broke the shackles of gravity and … flew. He soared through the air as no man had, outjumping even the official measuring device. Meet officials had to fetch a tape measure.

Then came the stunning announcement, which caused Soviet jumper Igor Ter-Ovanesyan to say, “Compared to this jump, we are as children.”

Beamon had leaped an astonishing 29 feet, 2 1/2 inches, becoming not only the first man to long jump 29 feet but the first to jump 28 feet. He had shattered the world record of 27-4 3/4 , shared by Ter-Ovanesyan and Ralph Boston, by 21- 3/4 inches.

“Right after I jumped, it started raining,” Beamon said. “Wow, wasn’t that a spiritual feeling?”

His world record stood for 23 years, until Mike Powell went 29-4 1/2 at the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo. Powell’s mark is still the world record.

But 40 years after his jump in Mexico City, Beamon still holds the Olympic record. It’s the mark that will be on the mind of every jumper who has qualified for the Beijing Games, including Americans Trevell Quinley, Brian Johnson and Miguel Pate.

Beamon’s advice to them? Don’t worry about his record.

“Many athletes come in (to the Olympics) trying to break records,” he said. “What you want to do is win the gold medal and not look at breaking a record. That, to me, is very critical.”

For years, critics said Beamon’s jump was a fluke, pointing to the thin air in Mexico City, a fast runway and a following wind of 2.0 meters, the maximum allowable velocity for a world record. It should be noted that Boston and Ter-Ovanesyan had the same conditions and didn’t come close to Beamon’s leap.

However it is defined, the Olympic record was Beamon’s shining moment.

His scholarship was revoked at Texas El-Paso for participating, with other African-American athletes, in a boycott of a meet against Brigham Young. Yet, despite his strong public stand on civil rights, he was criticized by some blacks for not supporting an Olympic boycott.

“Actually, I never thought about not going,” he said. “It was my time. You have to understand. Athletes train so hard, and that’s why politics has to be so far away from the Games.

“When you train for so many years to perform on this big stage where the entire world is watching, you may never get that chance again. So you have to take advantage of what is in front of you.”

Beamon, who turns 62 on Aug. 29, never again came close to matching his record jump. He finished his education at Adelphi, turned pro in the early 1970s and consistently jumped 25 and 26 feet – respectable distances but nothing special for a world champion – and then faded from the sport.

To this day, only three men have soared more than 29 feet in the long jump: Beamon, Powell and Carl Lewis.

“I had an opportunity to meet Bob Beamon in Monaco a couple years ago,” said Dwight Phillips, who won the gold medal at the 2004 Olympics but failed to qualify for the Beijing Games. “I’m never really star-struck but when I met him, I was like, ‘Wow, the great Bob Beamon.’

“He was an inspiration for me to go out there in 2004 and be an Olympic champion. I’ve got his jump on tape. I’ve probably watched it 1,000 times. My kids know about it and hopefully my kids’ kids will know about it.”

If someone does break his record in Beijing, Beamon will be the first to offer his congratulations.

“I don’t want them to reach 29 feet, I want them to reach 30 feet,” he said. “I don’t want them to be like me. I want them to be better than me.

“In terms of the record being broken, I think I will be remembered for 1968.”