Bob Beamon's Long Jump

In the 1968 Olympics Bob Beamon ran down a track and took a flying leap - into the record books. His leap of 29’ 2.5" broke the previous record in the event by nearly 2’ - this in an event where records are usually increased by inches, if not fractions of inches (the current record is 29’4", IIRC).

Has there ever been any scientific investigation as to why Beamon (who had nearly fouled out of the competition) was able to achieve such a feat or was everything (i.e., weather, his physical condition, the stars, fate) “just right” when he took off? Was he in danger of hurting himself with the effort (I once heard that if he had gone any further his legs would have broken, but I find that a little far-fetched)?

Sports experts have conducted numerous studies on Beamon’s anomalous jump. First, he set his record in Mexico City at high altitude, where there is less wind resistance. This along, of course, could not come close to explaining the differential. IIRC, Beamon was a consistent jumper in the mid 27’s until this Olympic feat. Most studies conclude that he did just what you say–everything jelled on one huge jump. For years, jumpers had speculated that if someone got it all together on one jump, he would shatter the record, inasmuch as long jumping is very technical. Beamon did just that. BTW, his record was broken a few years ago, and the American jumper did not break his legs.
The next barrier is 30 feet. Given the superior training, running tracks, and performance-enhancing drugs of late (undetectable by modern lab tests), it should be broken in a few years.

I noticed his record was well ahead of the previous record and thought it was unusual. Two feet?! Six inches would have been awesome, let alone two feet. However, many sports have records that stand for a while, and then are absolutely crushed by a large margin.

For example, in Hockey, many records stood for years, and then Wayne Gretzky came along almost overnight and made a mockery of long held records.

Who could squeak out 62 homers? 62? Hah! How about 70! Most would have expected that #62 would never come, or come on the last day of play. Never 70! I think this is a percentage difference greater than the long jump record difference when Beamon did it.

There have been various analyses of the Beamon jump and essentially, they boiled down to: he did everything perfectly. Hit the mark perfectly, in the perfect position, etc. Add to that the altitude and you had the record.

Freakishly, as I recall, at the meet at which Mike Powell finally broke Beamon’s long-standing record, both Powell and competitor Carl Lewis beat Beamon’s record, but Lewis still came in second. Ain’t that a bitch, to beat a 20+ year old world record and only get the silver…

It seems worth noting that the record for eating hot dogs in 12 minutes was doubled yesterday from 25 to 50. Wow!

And it was by a Japanese guy too. First baseball, now this. When will it end?! :slight_smile:

Takeru Kobayashi was the guy who won. The amazing thing is the guy only weighs 131 pounds (pre-50 hot dogs). All Things Considered on NPR did a story on Kazutoyo Arai, who came in second and the previous record holder, the other day before the contest. I think he weighs 99 pounds. I always think of “speed-eaters” (as they call themselves) as big, bulky guys. You can hear the story here (second story from the botton).

I could have sworn that I once read that Beamon had a 2.0 meters-per-second tailwind–the absolute maximum to make it an “official” record.

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In the last year, eating contests have sort of become popular in Japan. It started with restaurants making offers like “eat 2 of our jumbo ramens in 30 minutes and it’s free,” then progressed to giving cash prizes for even bigger feats, like eating a 10x helping in 20-30 minutes. A few people have even made a career of sorts out of travelling from restaurant to restaurant beating these challenges. Most of the winners look fairly slim. Also, in every televised contest I’ve seen (including one where 25 contestants were weighed, released to attack the buffet table, then weighed again, with the winner had gaining about 7kg) the hefties were easily beaten by the skinnies.
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–sublight.