Out of curiosity, I got out a tape measure and measured out 29 feet. Until you see that distance in person, you don't realize how absolutely ridiculous it is.
Another fun fact: the detailed analysis of this jump has also revealed that at his highest point, BB was 5ft 2in off the ground! A height most mortals could not high jump!
But they seem to be very different disciplines. I don't think anyone has ever succeeded in both. One is horizontal jump and the other is a sudden conversion of horizontal energy to Vertical energy so maybe the muscle group is different
@@someguy2135 right. I absolutely get that. That's why Jesse Owens won the long jump, that's why Carl Lewis won the long jump. But the action in the high jump where horizontal energy has to explode vertically must be very very different because we just don't see one person trying to practice the two disciplines
agreed.......what a spectacular achievement.......I long jumped in high school......held the record of 21'7" for a couple years but had actually jumped over 23' and was denied do to the situation of the pit......too low or some such shit.
Lava1964 Humm? The Greatest Single Feat Ever Achieved In Sports??? Hummm??? I always liked the guy who falls off the end of the Ski Jump ramp in the opening of "Wide World of Sports" hee hee hee!! Well, you have that Cuban guy Sotomayor HJ 8' 1/4". Bubka Pole Vaulting over 20 feet. That British guy Triple Jumping over 60 feet. Usain Bolt's 100 WR. 9.58 is it? I dunno, I might have to go with the USA Men's Hockey Team winning the Gold Medal at the 1980 Winter Olympics, and beating the Soviets en route. That was pretty great!!! Actually, I just thought of one. It is a "hidden" feat. Who was it now? Was it Bob Hines? Was that his name? I think he ran the last leg of a 4 x 100 M Relay in some unreal fast time, that would have shattered the 100 M WR, at the time. But alas, it didn't count, couldn't be measured accurately.
+aspenrebel I'll stick by my assertion. Nothing tops this jump. Considering that the word record for the long jump had only advanced about eight inches in the previous 32 years, Beamon's jump--which added nearly 22 inches to the record--is even more extraordinary. It's been called the first "21st-century sports performance." As an aside, I've never seen a reaction like Beamon's: collapsing in tears, his body going completely limp like that of a rag doll. It will take something absolutely extraordinary for me to change my mind about this moment in history. (One other point: Beamon had had a very disappointing season on the athletics circuit prior to the 1968 Olympics. Ralph Boston was considered to be by far a better jumper than Beamon going into the Games.)
aspenrebel You obviously know your stuff. It's nice to have a pleasant and intelligent comment with a stranger on RUclips. I'm familiar with all those moments you mentioned. I'm old enough to have either witnessed them live on television (Comaneci and Secretariat) or I've seen them on retrospective shows. The big difference between Beamon's feat and Comaneci's feat is that Beamon's feat is 100% measurable while Comaneci's feat of "perfection" in a judged sport is entirely subjective.
I watched this live on TV in the UK in 1968 and was totally blown away by this jump - everybody watching knew it was BIG! 48 years later and it still blows me away when I see it again. For me, Beamon and Fosbury were hero's of these games.
Yes, you are right. Beamon and Fosbury were hero's in history of Atletics. Im high jumper, and Im jumping Fosburi technique!! Its so beautiful and amazing.
I almost cried watching him collapsed at the news that he broke the world record.. You can see the people had a hard time measuring the unprecedented distance. Amazing.
Top 10 Archive ....it's amazing how much illegal performance enhancing steroids will add to a long jump. After drug testing got stricter american athletes got busted, like Marion Jones, Flo Jo and others. The Americans dominated sprinting until drug testing slowed them down and Jamaica took over with clean athletes.
I got to meet him in London when I went for the Olympics, really nice and cool guy. He gave us a tutorial on how he practiced jumping and then we got to try our own long jump, it was a lot of fun. Also really inspiring story, came form a broken home and turned himself into an Olympic medalist. That was a good summer, fun times!
A beautiful thing.. I remember my 5th grade P.E teacher marking it off and showing all of us how far Beamon jumped.. I'm 40, now, and I still remember that.. Truly awe-inspiring..
At Under 11, I won the South Northamptonshire Schools LJ when I knew I had nailed it in the first round; looking at it, my winning margin was nearly as much as BB's but my jump was only 12' 7" or so !
in decades to come, nobody nowhere cam close..the ultra doped carl lewis came close and the other large dude from the same era that a few times did 8,90..and broke the record..but nowadays again, you will win international events with 8,30-840...most jumps do not come close.. it is still ridiculous...maybe some insiders of this sport can tell us about it...if I jump to the max a thousand times during a year; how many times do I come close to my best.. I mean what were Bob's other top10 jumps...?
I read studies of this jump. Speed normal... nearly all the speed and acceleration and deceleration forces of his limbs were normal; the difference being the perfect timing of each of his limbs, his body itself moving upward at the last step, and not Decelerating as much as the normal jumper. Most jumpers body parts fight against each other with some parts accelerating and other decelerating at take off and they reach out with their last step (slowing their forward motion tremendously). It was just the "Perfect Storm" of a jump that showed up what a human is capable of at near his best.
Aside from this jump being technically perfect, Beamon had an enormous advantage because of the location of the Olympic Games of 1968: Mexico City. At an altitude of 2300m, through a decrease in gravity (from 9,81 m/s2 to 9,72 m/s2) and a decrease in air density, he was able to jump further. Without these advantages (related to the location of the Olympic Games), it has been calculated he would have jumped 31 centimeters (=12.2 inches) less (!). Not saying this is not an extraordinary jump, but still, he had a major advantage. Source: course in exercise physiology, university of Leuven, Belgium
usmh What exactly would be the adverse affects of high altitude in a 40m run? Decreased O2 only causes desaturation in endurance events. Even an athlete who hasn't trained in high altitude would have a reserve well able to the handle this short of distance.
usmh What Mike says. At increased altitude, running distances below 400 meters have an advantage. Performance at distances above 400 meters decreases. This is because below 400 meters the energy supplied can be delivered through anaerobic processes.
The percentage of improvement is what was astonishing. Almost *2 feet* longer than the previous record. That rate of improvement is what puts Beamon's leap into a different category. Similarly, Michael Johnson lowered the 200 meters record of 19.72 set in 1979 by .06 to 19.32 in June of 1996. That was an 11 year gap to lower it only .06. But *5 weeks later*, in August 1996 he lowered his own record by .34. Meaning he removed a total of .40 in only *5 weeks*. The previous rate of improvement in the 200 meters, if averaged out, was @ .01 per 365 days. Johnson lowered it .40 in only 35 DAYS. Surely
Wikipedia says since 1901 the record had been broken 11 times by an average of about 2 inches, the longest was a 6 inch improvement. Then Beamon came along and broke it by almost 22 inches.
That’s what I find most amazing. He increased the WR by almost 10%! Usually athletes come out and shave fractions of a percent off the records. Beamon obliterated it!
Mike Powell has the WR, Mr. Beamon's leap..... that's just an iconic moment in sports history. I wasn't born yet, but I get goosebumps watching his reaction. There are a couple instances, in track specifically, where a lesser distance/height/time is THE MOMENT. Usain's 2008 Olympic 100m final, to me, is much more memorable and iconic than his WR race a year later. Michael Johnson's Olympic 1996 200m final... that tops Usain's record in 2009. The sheer shock of the moment lives longer than the record! For a new adjective (Beamonesque) to be born out of your moment..... that's all you gotta know. Possibly the best athletic achievement ever.
ALL "dislikes" in videos where dislikes make no sense, like this one, the number is usually somewhere between 100 and 200 dislikes, which tells me that there are SOME PEOPLE, specific individuals, who go around looking for these videos to simply put thumbs down in them. As hard to understand as Beamon's jump!
I met him once in Miami, FL in the late 80’s on the basketball court at the park. We played on the same team for a random 5-on-5. Such a super nice guy! Sadly, I was the only person that recognized him. I did high and long jump in High School a couple years prior to that, so how could I not know who he was. I played it cool, lol, but told him how amazing I thought his achievement was. He humbly just said thank you.
Just a wonderful story. The enormity of the achievement at that time can hardly be overstated. Moreover in Mexico City which is at quite an elevation, posing a disadvantage to many track and field athletes.
@Mark rapacki Any explanation why it helped? (Please don't say the lessened gravitational force: the difference between there and at sea level is about 7 parts in 10000, by a back-of-envelope calculation, as is easily shown.)
Been watching T&F for over 50 years. This is clearly the single most amazing individual achievement I've seen in a single event. Keep in mind, that when world records are broken, they are almost always broken by tiny increments. Heights and distances are typical broken by quarter and half-inches. Times are usually broken by tenths or hundredths of seconds. For someone to come in and break the previous world record by over 21 inches....is simply not possible. What Beamon did in this jump was, by 1968 standards, physically impossible. It was magic.
The only thing I can think of that even remotely compares is Secretariat's run in the 1973 Belmont. He ran 2:24 flat and broke the world record for a mile and a half on dirt by 2 3/5 seconds. 48 years later, no horse anywhere has gone faster than 2:25.4.
@@robertjensen1048 It was the only performance I could think of that was as transcendent as Beamon's was. His jump is still the second-longest ever and still about a foot ahead of the longest jumpers performing today.
This is a freakish jump - just incredible. There’s a point in his flight where he should start to arc down but actually continues traveling upwards. It’s scary amazing - and is certainly THE single-best performance in the entire history of the Games.
Yeah. I noticed that too. I am fascinated by the mechanics of athleticism. It seemed as though he gave his body an additional boost by whipping his left leg from under him and forward at just the right millisecond. No doubt the rotation of his arms occurred in just the perfect synchronicity with the leap and his forward momentum too. And who knows...maybe a gust of wind?! I know this seems obvious but the timing of all these movements can give the body added elasticity and power. I'm not a scientist so probably using wrong words! So much of sports is technique.
@@TomUK7espn has done tests on a professional nba player and determined that it’s impossible to change the parabolic arc of jumping up and down once in the air but I’m no expert so maybe it’s possible that would be cool
This is one of the greatest athletic feats of all time. It's up there with Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game and Secretariat's 2:24 in the Belmont. It took DECADES for the track-and-field world to catch up to Beamon, and his jump is still, 51 years later, the second-longest of all time.
Indeed. To think that, if it wasn't for that one crazy night in Tokyo in 1991, Beamon's record would still stand. As of 2022, it has been 13 years since anybody has broken 8.70 m, let alone 8.90 m.
@@renerpho One crazy night in Tokyo that had 3 of the top 5 best wind-legal jumps (not even including Carl Lewis's wind-assisted jump that beat this jump).
I was 16 yrs old and a long jumper in high school and to have an achievement like this happen at the time was like a dream come through for long jumpers. I’ll never forget the impact it had on us. This was also the year I won our league championship.
Wow ! I remember that jump to this day !! I was 13, and my brothers and I were GLUED to the TV set, and we just couldn't believe what we had just seen !! What an AMAZING athlete -- so deserving. To this day, one of my fondest memories in all of sports !!!
805Bruin From watching this video, it appears the only altitude advantage consisted in the astonishing height Beamon was able to attain. It's no wonder he went so far, considering his elevation combined with takeoff velocity.
it wasn't just the altitude. A low pressure had passed over head, I believe, just at that moment, which aided him jumping so far. He was also very talented.
I watched that jump on ABC Sports when it happened in 1968 (the year I graduated H.S.) And I came to the same conclusion. It was a record for the ages! And am glad Lewis did NOT get the new record--Mike Powell did. Lewis always thought his shit didn't stink! But it sure had a rotten odor to me!
Mr. Beamon's jump was only the second most amazing thing to happen that day. Look at the two judges sitting there. They would have known that Beamon had just obliterated the record. Yet, they just sit there, staring straight ahead, as if thinking "Wonder what's for supper tonight". AMAZING!!!
The distance from a basketball free throw line to the point on the floor under the backboard--could you jump that far with a running start? Yeah, probably, right? Okay, that's 15 feet. Now double that distance. Think you could jump _that_ far with a running start? Think you could get anywhere *near* it?
Two of the best gamechangers from the '68 Games: Bob Beamon with this immortal jump and Dick Fosbury in the high jump. And Beamon's distance is still an Olympic record to this day😲!!
This is a reminder, amid all the, otherwise, horrid humans-being-inhumane-to-other-humans headlines, that people CAN spend their time & energy pursuing peaceful, life affirming achievements. THANK YOU, Mr. Bob Beamon (and your entire support team) for gifting all of us with this shining moment. Peace, everyone, everywhere.
21 and 3/4 inches farther than the old record? That's so beyond the realm of physical achievements it may be the single greatest athletic achievement of all-time. It's almost as if someone ran the 100 meters in about 8.8 seconds or the mile in about 3:30. Astonishing!
Beamon's increase, 835 cm to 890 cm, is a 6.59% improvement on the World Record. It's the equivalent of someone passing Usain Bolt's 9.58 World Record by getting an 8.98.
If you don't realize that I'm referring to Bolt's record in the 100 meters. You're an idiot. Also, "World Record" is capitalized in the video title, Guinness capitalizes "World Record," I'll capitalize it too. Do you have any other worthless things to say?
@@yes9421 I don't think it is about discrediting it but understanding it. Beamon never before or after jumped near this. It was his best one off performance with a 2.0 tailwind and high altitude - both helped get him that record. It is still a massive jump of around 8.70 meters without. His previous best was 8.33. A little history behind this is that some controversy existed because some thought the official was truncating the wind readings to integer values - for example a reading between 2.0 and 2.99 would get 2.0. But nothing can prove this. It was still his best jump ever and it just happened at the right time. Will always be a legend.
Desmond Bagley Ralph Boston had a 1.8 tailwind and only got 27 feet and 1/2 inch in 1961. But Mike Powell did beat Beamon’s jump with only a 0.3 tailwind and a low altitude yet still almost got 2 inches longer. However, Beamon’s jump will still always be remembered as one of the greatest athletic achievements. He beat it by almost 2 *feet* man.
I looked at his run and compared it to other great runs and I think I noticed something different that might partially explain why it went so far..... I noticed his feet and legs while he was in the air... his feet came up as high as his head while he was in the air and they were together.... other runners I looked at only had their legs up to chest height and not always together, one leg lower than the other... Perhaps this gave him maximum extension - the run is measured by where the heel touches down so maximum extension is very important - and with his legs - head high, together, level to the ground, pointed straight ahead that would give him the least wind resistance as he was in the air. I wonder if other runners or coaches have noticed that ? Of course speed also plays a part but I can't determine his speed based on my casual observation of this video.
Beamon had excellent speed...had run the 100m under 10.5. The 6000 foot altitude of Mexico City certainly helped too. His form was perfect too on that day, as you pointed out.
Bob had refused to jump at the NCAA track and field competition in Spring of 1967, held at Brigham Young University (BYU)--as the Mormon Church refused blacks into the church until 1978. Our family had moved from Ohio-Athens, Ohio (Ohio University) to Ogden Utah--culture shock!! My parents knew the Ohio track coach who went on to be the US coach at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City (This jump.) Since Beamon refused to go to the meet at BYU, UTEP kicked him off the team and he was privately coached by Ralph Boston. BYU is one strange place. Mormons don’t drink anything with caffeine, no alcohol, and no smoking. They also considered all blacks as undeserving of membership into the Church--they had NO black guys in tier basketball or football teams. We would sneak down from the University of Utah just to see how quickly we could get kicked off campus! Usually after smoking weed--it WAS the late 1960s! we’d wear jeans (forbidden) and try to order Coca-Cola in the student union. we weren’t kicked off by security-oh NO the BYU students would confront us themselves--ask to see our ID and we would say “We forgot to carry them.” Wearing red University of Utah sweatshirts didn’t help. (BYU was blue and white) Back to the 1967 NCAA year end Track meet. Our coach friend said that he was carrying a thermos of coffee onto the field and was stopped by a security guard. Coach laughed as he figured that the guard thought he was sneaking liquor in the thermos. The guard said “No coffee allowed!” Coach thought it was a joke and laughed. He got kicked out of the stadium until he could contact the guy in charge of the meet to get back in. None of the black players were allowed to stay in the dorms! We are talking MAJOR athletes: USC w/ OJ Simpson, John Carlos, Tommy Smith...the USC 4 x 100 yds relay team shattered the world record in that meet--all black sprinters. If any of you have NOT been to such a huge track and field event it’s like a five ring circus. They have the javelin over here, there the high jump, long jump in another place, and there are always track events taking place ALL AT THE SAME TIME. But when the 4X100yd relay was beginning the 80,000 white people in the stands went quiet. Everyone stopped to watch. They were so fast that OJ who ran the anchor leg was crossing the finish line when the other teams were still passing the baton between the 3rd runner and the anchor! But these black guys were treated horribly. BYU is in a small town-Provo surrounded by other small towns-Orem etc. Closest big city was Salt Lake City but that would have been a LONG DRIVE EACH day to the stadium. The coaches finally found some good people who allowed the athletes to stay at their homes. It was NUTS! The next summer was the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. I remember watching John Carlos and Tommy Smith on the medal stand--sharing a pair of black gloves, they raised their fists in a show of black pride. People were horrified. But I got it..because I saw how they were treated at BYU and Provo, Utah! When BYU’s football team was getting shellacked every year by teams with black players the President (Prophet) of the Church had a “revelation” that blacks should be allowed in The Church, BYU started winning football and basketball games again!
Wow Helen, this is an amazing glimpse into history. I was born in 1966. I never really knew the extent of what blacks were up against... It's for sure they are amazing athletes. Thank you for this history lesson..
African-Americans have been treated shabbily in America. Jim Crow laws, voting discrimination, redlining (prevented from buying homes in certain areas of cities), and segregation in schools until the late 1950s (Brown v Board of Education Supreme Court. Our family would drive from Ohio to Florida every spring for 2 weeks vacation...stayed with our grandmother in Clearwater in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Signs on beach “No dogs or colored on beach.” Restaurants would have signs that said “We have the right to refuse service to anyone” and it would have a cartoon black person smiling and eating a big slice of watermelon. The bathrooms would have “whites only” and sometimes “Colored” but usually there wasn’t a second bathroom, so black families had to urinate in fields. Same with water fountains--marked colored and whites only. Jesse Owens after winning gold medals at the 1936 Olympics---swept the sprints defying Hitler and his German white blonde “Master race” came home to the US and wasn’t allowed in hotels and restaurants. Read “The Help” or watch the movie. The USA was one of the last countries in the world to end slavery and it took a civil war that killed 600,000 Americans and a strong president Abraham Lincoln to pass the Emancipation Proclamation BUT more important got the partisan congress to pass the 13th amendment which abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. An amendment takes 2/3rds of congress to pass and ratification by 3/4ths of the states. Mississippi did NOT ratify a law against slavery until 1995! And didn’t make it official until 2013 when the movie “Lincoln” came out starring Daniel Day-Lewis. Now MS didn’t have slavery--a federal law is the standard.
That was really informative .. Iam from India born in 1961 and did know something about Martin Luther King when I was growing up ( Mohammed Ali was huge out here as well ) but what you have written is a real eye opener for me. I guess it is in the nature of human beings to discriminate whether on basis of color or religion or caste ( as it happens here in India ), but the good thing about free democratic societies is that it gives us a chance to learn and evolve. America has come a long way from the 1960s ..and we are learning as well though there may be some gremlins here and there ..
Considering the year it took place (1968), the amount Beamon's leap broke the record by (21+ inches), and how long the record stood (23 years), this is arguably the greatest individual moment in sports history. Astonishing that it remains the Olympic record and 2nd longest jump (wind legal) in history.
29ft 2.5in is what really stuck in my mind. I just heard it a long time ago in some tv commercials but it still stuck in mind. When I youtube the actual jump, besides it being a world record, it was a beauty to watch.
This jump was the greatest record of ANY kind in the history of sport. To put this record in perspective; It would be like someone running a 3:30 mile, or a high jumping 9 ft..
This jump was such a shock to Beamon's body that he never jumped over 27' again. It was explained that he physiologically rejected ever doing it to himself again. He still jumped 26+ at the 1969 US outdoor nationals and won. Great competitor.
One thing is for sure: no one is likely to ever break the long jump world record again by that percentage. It would take a jump of about 30 foot 9 inches. Crazy.
There used to be a bar in a Boston hotel with 2 plaques commemorating the achievement, one representing the fault line and one where he landed. As I stood at the near-empty bar, I was absolutely astonished at the distance. And I had seen the jump when it happened on TV. One more thing to raise a glass to.
I remember watching this on TV as a kid. One of the most remarkable sporting achievements. I can’t think of any record getting obliterated like that long jump record did by Beamon.
I’ve watched this leap a thousand times and I swear when he puts his legs up for the landing it’s like you can see his whole body levitate up a few more inches. Amazing.
He'd make it to the basket alright! With a running head start his head would be as high as the basket and his arms would be above his head--easy dunk! You people have no logical imagination!
Yeah I think he could dunk from 3 point line. A high school or college 3 point line is 19 ft and 9 in from the basket. So theoretically he would reach the basket slightly after the peak altitude of his jump where I feel like he would be high enough to dunk.
This is a mark in sports that sort of slips through the cracks, with regards to how incredible it was. He beat the previous world record by almost 2 feet!!! It is one of those rare occurrences in sports where everything falls into place and as noted below you have to see the distance to appreciate it. Think of all the new training techniques athletes now have, along with space-aged materials for shoes. It is one of the most incredible world records in Track and Field history with regards to when it happened, where it happened and how long it stood into the modern age.
As a former basketball player I always used to think about it like this, Imagine Lebron James jumped from 5 feet behind the nba 3pt line and had his feet land at the baseline... Think about that, the sheer absurdity of that distance.. I still think the long jump records are the most incredible in human history. You really can't fully appreciate it until you pull out a measuring tape and see it with your won eyes.. You get the feeling of, "absolutely no way this is humanly possible.. this is flying".
Unbelievable I have seen this live I have been blessed 2 of lived in this era. I have seen the likes of Muhammad Ali Usain Bolt Bob Beamon Michael Jordan the list can go on and on. But this era from the 1960s until today that must be the best time in sports. There are a lot of names that I did not mention my text would go on forever and ever but I thank all of these athletes for entertaining me
Thank you for your sincere and humble spirit. Were are in the beginnings of Nazi Germany like times, so we were indeed blessed to have had so many to respect, admire and enjoy.
Mr Bob Beamon.... 1968 l was 11 yrs old when u made that incredible long jump. 2 👀👀 u interviewed all these yrs later showed me that u r a nice humble guy. We will never 4get ur God given talent. Blessings 2 U & ur family
I was 8 years old in 1968. As a young boy. Watching Bob break the long jump record. Would stay with me to this day. I found out later. That I could not jump very far in High school. So my dream of being a long jumper was over. But during the next Olympics in 72 and 76. I caught the long distance running bug. Watching the American's win the Gold in the Marathons. I found my niche. Then took up running. The craze for running was taking over in America. At 29 years old I took up running. Ran till I was 40. Running half Marathons and Marathons. Any long distance race I could find. Ran a 5 minute mile when I was 37. To this day. Watching the Olympics in 68, 72 and 76. Was a dream for me even though I never ran or jumped in the Olympics. I had great hope of reaching that level. Dream on young people! It could be you. Up there on the stage receiving the gold for the United States of America. Shawn.
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Out of curiosity, I got out a tape measure and measured out 29 feet. Until you see that distance in person, you don't realize how absolutely ridiculous it is.
RespectMyHate Most people couldn't throw a 12 lb (i.e. High School weight) shot put that far (29 feet)!!!!!
aspenrebel.... I tried. And it landed on my foot
Yeah, I did the same, would just stare in amazement at the great distance !
Bo Knows then you get haters pointing down, clowns!!!!!!!
Jan Jacobsen I couldn't lift it off the ground.
Another fun fact: the detailed analysis of this jump has also revealed that at his highest point, BB was 5ft 2in off the ground! A height most mortals could not high jump!
Yeah. It's like he just floated out there.
that's my height oh my god
But they seem to be very different disciplines. I don't think anyone has ever succeeded in both. One is horizontal jump and the other is a sudden conversion of horizontal energy to Vertical energy so maybe the muscle group is different
@@markwoldin162 Running speed is much more of a factor in the long jump.
@@someguy2135 right. I absolutely get that. That's why Jesse Owens won the long jump, that's why Carl Lewis won the long jump. But the action in the high jump where horizontal energy has to explode vertically must be very very different because we just don't see one person trying to practice the two disciplines
Still looking at this video I get teary-eyed more so by watching Mr. Beamon be so overwhelmed
agreed.......what a spectacular achievement.......I long jumped in high school......held the record of 21'7" for a couple years but had actually jumped over 23' and was denied do to the situation of the pit......too low or some such shit.
And no drugs .
It was beautiful, wasn’t it?
Me too.
He literally goes into shock haha
I think this is still the greatest achievement in any sport of all time. Nearly two feet over the previous record!
A human jumps far. Almost as meaningless as swimming fast.
Mexico City is at a high elevation. That fact led to virtually no wind resistance. That helped Beamon that day.
Nearly half a century after it happened, this is still the greatest single feat ever achieved in sports (in my opinion).
You know it's been broken right? Still amazing though.
Spencer Berg Yes. It was broken in 1991 by Mike Powell.
Lava1964 Humm? The Greatest Single Feat Ever Achieved In Sports??? Hummm??? I always liked the guy who falls off the end of the Ski Jump ramp in the opening of "Wide World of Sports" hee hee hee!! Well, you have that Cuban guy Sotomayor HJ 8' 1/4". Bubka Pole Vaulting over 20 feet. That British guy Triple Jumping over 60 feet. Usain Bolt's 100 WR. 9.58 is it? I dunno, I might have to go with the USA Men's Hockey Team winning the Gold Medal at the 1980 Winter Olympics, and beating the Soviets en route. That was pretty great!!! Actually, I just thought of one. It is a "hidden" feat. Who was it now? Was it Bob Hines? Was that his name? I think he ran the last leg of a 4 x 100 M Relay in some unreal fast time, that would have shattered the 100 M WR, at the time. But alas, it didn't count, couldn't be measured accurately.
+aspenrebel I'll stick by my assertion. Nothing tops this jump. Considering that the word record for the long jump had only advanced about eight inches in the previous 32 years, Beamon's jump--which added nearly 22 inches to the record--is even more extraordinary. It's been called the first "21st-century sports performance." As an aside, I've never seen a reaction like Beamon's: collapsing in tears, his body going completely limp like that of a rag doll. It will take something absolutely extraordinary for me to change my mind about this moment in history. (One other point: Beamon had had a very disappointing season on the athletics circuit prior to the 1968 Olympics. Ralph Boston was considered to be by far a better jumper than Beamon going into the Games.)
aspenrebel You obviously know your stuff. It's nice to have a pleasant and intelligent comment with a stranger on RUclips. I'm familiar with all those moments you mentioned. I'm old enough to have either witnessed them live on television (Comaneci and Secretariat) or I've seen them on retrospective shows. The big difference between Beamon's feat and Comaneci's feat is that Beamon's feat is 100% measurable while Comaneci's feat of "perfection" in a judged sport is entirely subjective.
Here before Jon Bois releases The Bob Emergency Part 2.
hell yea
Well predicted!
Woah
he just did.
Not_brick genius
I saw this as it happened in 1968. One of the greatest moments ever in athletics
I was 8. Watched with dad. I remember the excitement. Still amazed
I watched this live on TV in the UK in 1968 and was totally blown away by this jump - everybody watching knew it was BIG! 48 years later and it still blows me away when I see it again. For me, Beamon and Fosbury were hero's of these games.
great times you witnessed!!! drugs virtually un heard off.
i liked watching these clips 1968 my birth date
Yes, you are right. Beamon and Fosbury were hero's in history of Atletics. Im high jumper, and Im jumping Fosburi technique!! Its so beautiful and amazing.
I almost cried watching him collapsed at the news that he broke the world record.. You can see the people had a hard time measuring the unprecedented distance. Amazing.
Good to see you included Fosbury's Flop as well. That was JUST as huge!
It sure was - I could not believe what I was seeing, which was something new and unique though today it's quite commonplace, but not back then.
Goosebumps...
Viewer beware...
Wet eyes...
Top 10 Archive ....it's amazing how much illegal performance enhancing steroids will add to a long jump. After drug testing got stricter american athletes got busted, like Marion Jones, Flo Jo and others. The Americans dominated sprinting until drug testing slowed them down and Jamaica took over with clean athletes.
lol Jamaica clean athletes
Top 10 Archive why don’t u have the verification badge?
This is one of the greatest moments in Olympic history. This is still after 46 years 2nd longest jump ever.
***** That's why he said 2nd.
I think the greatest ever. The perfect jump, never repeat after and never done before. Not even close.
After 50 years
E
What is 1st
I got to meet him in London when I went for the Olympics, really nice and cool guy. He gave us a tutorial on how he practiced jumping and then we got to try our own long jump, it was a lot of fun. Also really inspiring story, came form a broken home and turned himself into an Olympic medalist. That was a good summer, fun times!
luke sutherlin that’s so cool!
Thanks for sharing, that is beautiful to know he is a kind and giving person . His life matters.
I am jealous!!!!!😎
that walk after made this so perfect
@mksrookies for real buddy
The walk is actually better than the jump itself. Is this guy relaxed or what?
If you jump 29 feet 2 inches you can walk anyway you want
A beautiful thing.. I remember my 5th grade P.E teacher marking it off and showing all of us how far Beamon jumped.. I'm 40, now, and I still remember that.. Truly awe-inspiring..
At Under 11, I won the South Northamptonshire Schools LJ when I knew I had nailed it in the first round; looking at it, my winning margin was nearly as much as BB's but my jump was only 12' 7" or so !
no, you are 48
Yes. Our PE teacher did the same thing.
@@richardgasquet9848 I am 48 now haha, cool name btw, are you good in tennis? :) Cheers!
Nobody else at the same meet came within 2 feet of Beamon's jump.
They all compteted in the same conditions.
nowadays they do not come close...
Not even he did. Was a complete freak event
in decades to come, nobody nowhere cam close..the ultra doped carl lewis came close and the other large dude from the same era that a few times did 8,90..and broke the record..but nowadays again, you will win international events with 8,30-840...most jumps do not come close..
it is still ridiculous...maybe some insiders of this sport can tell us about it...if I jump to the max a thousand times during a year; how many times do I come close to my best.. I mean what were Bob's other top10 jumps...?
@@lukepearson5697 Beamons second best jump ever was in the 27s. you are correct
I read studies of this jump. Speed normal... nearly all the speed and acceleration and deceleration forces of his limbs were normal; the difference being the perfect timing of each of his limbs, his body itself moving upward at the last step, and not Decelerating as much as the normal jumper. Most jumpers body parts fight against each other with some parts accelerating and other decelerating at take off and they reach out with their last step (slowing their forward motion tremendously). It was just the "Perfect Storm" of a jump that showed up what a human is capable of at near his best.
Aside from this jump being technically perfect, Beamon had an enormous advantage because of the location of the Olympic Games of 1968: Mexico City.
At an altitude of 2300m, through a decrease in gravity (from 9,81 m/s2 to 9,72 m/s2) and a decrease in air density, he was able to jump further. Without these advantages (related to the location of the Olympic Games), it has been calculated he would have jumped 31 centimeters (=12.2 inches) less (!).
Not saying this is not an extraordinary jump, but still, he had a major advantage.
Source: course in exercise physiology, university of Leuven, Belgium
***** And what about the adverse effects of high altitude...?
usmh What exactly would be the adverse affects of high altitude in a 40m run? Decreased O2 only causes desaturation in endurance events. Even an athlete who hasn't trained in high altitude would have a reserve well able to the handle this short of distance.
usmh What Mike says. At increased altitude, running distances below 400 meters have an advantage. Performance at distances above 400 meters decreases. This is because below 400 meters the energy supplied can be delivered through anaerobic processes.
*****
Which blood cell count is changed by high altitude...?
I watched at TV (black and white) that historic jump. In Spain was approx. 10h pm. I was 13 and now I am 61 and I recall my astonishment at the time.
I was 12 at the time, and watched in black and white in Montreal, Canada. With my father. It's a moment that will live with me always.
The percentage of improvement is what was astonishing. Almost *2 feet* longer than the previous record. That rate of improvement is what puts Beamon's leap into a different category. Similarly, Michael Johnson lowered the 200 meters record of 19.72 set in 1979 by .06 to 19.32 in June of 1996. That was an 11 year gap to lower it only .06. But *5 weeks later*, in August 1996 he lowered his own record by .34. Meaning he removed a total of .40 in only *5 weeks*. The previous rate of improvement in the 200 meters, if averaged out, was @ .01 per 365 days. Johnson lowered it .40 in only 35 DAYS. Surely
Wikipedia says since 1901 the record had been broken 11 times by an average of about 2 inches, the longest was a 6 inch improvement. Then Beamon came along and broke it by almost 22 inches.
Johnson's record is likely steroid enhanced. I don't think that was an issue for Bob Beamon. He just had the most perfect launch in long jump history.
That’s what I find most amazing. He increased the WR by almost 10%! Usually athletes come out and shave fractions of a percent off the records. Beamon obliterated it!
Man Jay I know this comment was made 3 years ago but I can’t help myself. I’m pretty sure 19.72 subtracted by .06 is 19.66, not 19.32.
@@johnnypenso9574 yes, in the thin mexican air aswell...funny enough the triplejump record is done in Sweden..
Bob Beamon’s jump was the Greatest Achievement in Track and Field History.
Truly herculean, agreed. For quite some time it was thought it would never be surpassed in length. What are the physical limits, one wonders?
Still, as of 2016, the 2nd longest jump ever. Nearly 48 years ago.
Mike Powell's jump was 8.95 metres...these one was 8.90
8.91 windy. Pedroso did 8.96 but judges made a mess.
Still doesn't match the magnitude of Beamon.
no he did not!
Speaking of windy lets not forget Powell's 8.99. Plus it was calculated that Pedroso's 8.96 was with just +1.2 so really it should be the record.
What an inspiring humble and talented hard working man.
lol cheater
One of the best moments in sports, period.
He still has the Olympic record to this day.
Mike Powell has the WR, Mr. Beamon's leap..... that's just an iconic moment in sports history. I wasn't born yet, but I get goosebumps watching his reaction.
There are a couple instances, in track specifically, where a lesser distance/height/time is THE MOMENT. Usain's 2008 Olympic 100m final, to me, is much more memorable and iconic than his WR race a year later.
Michael Johnson's Olympic 1996 200m final... that tops Usain's record in 2009.
The sheer shock of the moment lives longer than the record!
For a new adjective (Beamonesque) to be born out of your moment..... that's all you gotta know. Possibly the best athletic achievement ever.
Bob Beamon still holds the Olympic record.
The greatest single achievement by an athlete in the history of sport.
Hard to argue that lol
Roger James agreed
I wouldn't go that far...
"Secretariat" was an athlete.
Yeah it must be very close to that
I still get teary eyed when I see moments like this.
Fucking crazy. Closest thing to a sports miracle ever.
how can someone even dislike this
White men cant jump...
Jonas Hall.......I'm 6'3" and when I was 24 I could touch a 10 foot rim with my elbow
ALL "dislikes" in videos where dislikes make no sense, like this one, the number is usually somewhere between 100 and 200 dislikes, which tells me that there are SOME PEOPLE, specific individuals, who go around looking for these videos to simply put thumbs down in them. As hard to understand as Beamon's jump!
Ralph Boston visits here often.
trump gave a thumbs down!
I met him once in Miami, FL in the late 80’s on the basketball court at the park. We played on the same team for a random 5-on-5. Such a super nice guy! Sadly, I was the only person that recognized him. I did high and long jump in High School a couple years prior to that, so how could I not know who he was. I played it cool, lol, but told him how amazing I thought his achievement was. He humbly just said thank you.
you met a world RECORD holder thats fantastic
Congrats on your encounter, and on having met such a nice guy.
Just a wonderful story. The enormity of the achievement at that time can hardly be overstated. Moreover in Mexico City which is at quite an elevation, posing a disadvantage to many track and field athletes.
@Mark rapacki Any explanation why it helped? (Please don't say the lessened gravitational force: the difference between there and at sea level is about 7 parts in 10000, by a back-of-envelope calculation, as is easily shown.)
@Spud E. Buddy The Phoenix Suns took a flyer & drafted Beamon in the late rounds.
Been watching T&F for over 50 years. This is clearly the single most amazing individual achievement I've seen in a single event.
Keep in mind, that when world records are broken, they are almost always broken by tiny increments. Heights and distances are typical broken by quarter and half-inches. Times are usually broken by tenths or hundredths of seconds.
For someone to come in and break the previous world record by over 21 inches....is simply not possible.
What Beamon did in this jump was, by 1968 standards, physically impossible. It was magic.
The only thing I can think of that even remotely compares is Secretariat's run in the 1973 Belmont. He ran 2:24 flat and broke the world record for a mile and a half on dirt by 2 3/5 seconds. 48 years later, no horse anywhere has gone faster than 2:25.4.
@@johnhunter2294 It's a great comparison from a statistical basis.Secretariat was clearly an incredible specimen. But that was a horse, not a human.
@@robertjensen1048 It was the only performance I could think of that was as transcendent as Beamon's was. His jump is still the second-longest ever and still about a foot ahead of the longest jumpers performing today.
This is a freakish jump - just incredible. There’s a point in his flight where he should start to arc down but actually continues traveling upwards. It’s scary amazing - and is certainly THE single-best performance in the entire history of the Games.
Yeah. I noticed that too. I am fascinated by the mechanics of athleticism. It seemed as though he gave his body an additional boost by whipping his left leg from under him and forward at just the right millisecond. No doubt the rotation of his arms occurred in just the perfect synchronicity with the leap and his forward momentum too. And who knows...maybe a gust of wind?! I know this seems obvious but the timing of all these movements can give the body added elasticity and power. I'm not a scientist so probably using wrong words! So much of sports is technique.
@@TomUK7espn has done tests on a professional nba player and determined that it’s impossible to change the parabolic arc of jumping up and down once in the air but I’m no expert so maybe it’s possible that would be cool
EXACTLY my thougths. @@TomUK7
Interrestingly you dont see this "extra kick" in slowmotion.
He did it before PED's too. Legit as it gets!
that day there was a glitch in the matrix
Almost like Physical law or processes glitched for a few seconds around Beamon
This is one of the greatest athletic feats of all time. It's up there with Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game and Secretariat's 2:24 in the Belmont. It took DECADES for the track-and-field world to catch up to Beamon, and his jump is still, 51 years later, the second-longest of all time.
Indeed. To think that, if it wasn't for that one crazy night in Tokyo in 1991, Beamon's record would still stand. As of 2022, it has been 13 years since anybody has broken 8.70 m, let alone 8.90 m.
@@renerpho One crazy night in Tokyo that had 3 of the top 5 best wind-legal jumps (not even including Carl Lewis's wind-assisted jump that beat this jump).
If you have a measuring tape measure out 29ft this is insane when you see it in person ...
Bs 29ft
mine can’t even reach 29 feet
there was already such comment earlier u idiot
Meter?
@@airkuna There's nothing idiotic about missing an earlier comment.
I was 16 yrs old and a long jumper in high school and to have an achievement like this happen at the time was like a dream come through for long jumpers. I’ll never forget the impact it had on us. This was also the year I won our league championship.
Every time time I watch this it inspires me to greater heights. Never give up , never surrender and always believe in yourself.
no
Wow ! I remember that jump to this day !! I was 13, and my brothers and I were GLUED to the TV set, and we just couldn't believe what we had just seen !! What an AMAZING athlete -- so deserving. To this day, one of my fondest memories in all of sports !!!
If altitude was such a huge factor, then how come no one else in the 1968 games came close to what Beamon jumped?
805Bruin From watching this video, it appears the only altitude advantage consisted in the astonishing height Beamon was able to attain. It's no wonder he went so far, considering his elevation combined with takeoff velocity.
it wasn't just the altitude. A low pressure had passed over head, I believe, just at that moment, which aided him jumping so far. He was also very talented.
I watched that jump on ABC Sports when it happened in 1968 (the year I graduated H.S.) And I came to the same conclusion. It was a record for the ages! And am glad Lewis did NOT get the new record--Mike Powell did. Lewis always thought his shit didn't stink! But it sure had a rotten odor to me!
But Beamon still holds the Olympic record.
Beamon was a beast. Enough said. Only Mike Powell can come close on that and he did it in the normal air of Tokyo, Japan.
imagine being there for that momentous moment in sporting history
My all-time favorite Olympic moment and this is wonderful to see Mr Beamon talk about it. Salute to you.
Probably the greatest track and field record of all time.
Mr. Beamon's jump was only the second most amazing thing to happen that day. Look at the two judges sitting there. They would have known that Beamon had just obliterated the record. Yet, they just sit there, staring straight ahead, as if thinking "Wonder what's for supper tonight". AMAZING!!!
The distance from a basketball free throw line to the point on the floor under the backboard--could you jump that far with a running start? Yeah, probably, right?
Okay, that's 15 feet. Now double that distance. Think you could jump _that_ far with a running start? Think you could get anywhere *near* it?
Still today a 27 foot jump will win almost any track meet in the world.
Two of the best gamechangers from the '68 Games: Bob Beamon with this immortal jump and Dick Fosbury in the high jump. And Beamon's distance is still an Olympic record to this day😲!!
And still the Olympic record 49 years later.
They don't even jump 28 feet these days. That olympic record will Never be broken
This is a reminder, amid all the, otherwise, horrid humans-being-inhumane-to-other-humans headlines, that people CAN spend their time & energy pursuing peaceful, life affirming achievements. THANK YOU, Mr. Bob Beamon (and your entire support team) for gifting all of us with this shining moment. Peace, everyone, everywhere.
No longer the world record but will always be the most beautiful jump. He looked so graceful and went really high and nailed the landing.
It's still the Olympic record.
I agree. Powell was a monster but he was anything but graceful, lol
21 and 3/4 inches farther than the old record? That's so beyond the realm of physical achievements it may be the single greatest athletic achievement of all-time. It's almost as if someone ran the 100 meters in about 8.8 seconds or the mile in about 3:30. Astonishing!
Beamon's increase, 835 cm to 890 cm, is a 6.59% improvement on the World Record. It's the equivalent of someone passing Usain Bolt's 9.58 World Record by getting an 8.98.
If you don't realize that I'm referring to Bolt's record in the 100 meters. You're an idiot. Also, "World Record" is capitalized in the video title, Guinness capitalizes "World Record," I'll capitalize it too. Do you have any other worthless things to say?
@Desmond Bagley Then why did no one else come close to the old record? The altitude was the same for all of the competitors.
@@yes9421 I don't think it is about discrediting it but understanding it. Beamon never before or after jumped near this. It was his best one off performance with a 2.0 tailwind and high altitude - both helped get him that record. It is still a massive jump of around 8.70 meters without. His previous best was 8.33. A little history behind this is that some controversy existed because some thought the official was truncating the wind readings to integer values - for example a reading between 2.0 and 2.99 would get 2.0. But nothing can prove this. It was still his best jump ever and it just happened at the right time. Will always be a legend.
Desmond Bagley Ralph Boston had a 1.8 tailwind and only got 27 feet and 1/2 inch in 1961. But Mike Powell did beat Beamon’s jump with only a 0.3 tailwind and a low altitude yet still almost got 2 inches longer. However, Beamon’s jump will still always be remembered as one of the greatest athletic achievements. He beat it by almost 2 *feet* man.
sitting in the stands across from the block when he did that
did you think it looked that long when you first saw it?
Did he ever jump that far again?
No, unfortunately, he never came close to jumping that far again.
I looked at his run and compared it to other great runs
and I think I noticed something different
that might partially explain why it went so far.....
I noticed his feet and legs while he was in the air...
his feet came up as high as his head while he was in the air
and they were together....
other runners I looked at only had their legs up to chest height
and not always together, one leg lower than the other...
Perhaps this gave him maximum extension -
the run is measured by where the heel touches down
so maximum extension is very important -
and with his legs - head high, together, level to the ground,
pointed straight ahead
that would give him the least wind resistance
as he was in the air.
I wonder if other runners or coaches have noticed that ?
Of course speed also plays a part
but I can't determine his speed based on my casual observation
of this video.
Beamon had excellent speed...had run the 100m under 10.5. The 6000 foot altitude of Mexico City certainly helped too. His form was perfect too on that day, as you pointed out.
@Mook Wolf i do you sound like a fucking neckbeard crybaby loser
"Fuck gravity" *jumps*
I was watching on TV as a teenager -- still amazing to see, thanks for posting.
Unbelievable how far he travels before coming down, he literally flew
this is one of my top 10 memorable sports moments. thanks bob.
Bob had refused to jump at the NCAA track and field competition in Spring of 1967, held at Brigham Young University (BYU)--as the Mormon Church refused blacks into the church until 1978. Our family had moved from Ohio-Athens, Ohio (Ohio University) to Ogden Utah--culture shock!! My parents knew the Ohio track coach who went on to be the US coach at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City (This jump.) Since Beamon refused to go to the meet at BYU, UTEP kicked him off the team and he was privately coached by Ralph Boston.
BYU is one strange place. Mormons don’t drink anything with caffeine, no alcohol, and no smoking. They also considered all blacks as undeserving of membership into the Church--they had NO black guys in tier basketball or football teams. We would sneak down from the University of Utah just to see how quickly we could get kicked off campus! Usually after smoking weed--it WAS the late 1960s! we’d wear jeans (forbidden) and try to order Coca-Cola in the student union. we weren’t kicked off by security-oh NO the BYU students would confront us themselves--ask to see our ID and we would say “We forgot to carry them.” Wearing red University of Utah sweatshirts didn’t help. (BYU was blue and white)
Back to the 1967 NCAA year end Track meet. Our coach friend said that he was carrying a thermos of coffee onto the field and was stopped by a security guard. Coach laughed as he figured that the guard thought he was sneaking liquor in the thermos. The guard said “No coffee allowed!” Coach thought it was a joke and laughed. He got kicked out of the stadium until he could contact the guy in charge of the meet to get back in. None of the black players were allowed to stay in the dorms! We are talking MAJOR athletes: USC w/ OJ Simpson, John Carlos, Tommy Smith...the USC 4 x 100 yds relay team shattered the world record in that meet--all black sprinters.
If any of you have NOT been to such a huge track and field event it’s like a five ring circus. They have the javelin over here, there the high jump, long jump in another place, and there are always track events taking place ALL AT THE SAME TIME. But when the 4X100yd relay was beginning the 80,000 white people in the stands went quiet. Everyone stopped to watch. They were so fast that OJ who ran the anchor leg was crossing the finish line when the other teams were still passing the baton between the 3rd runner and the anchor!
But these black guys were treated horribly. BYU is in a small town-Provo surrounded by other small towns-Orem etc. Closest big city was Salt Lake City but that would have been a LONG DRIVE EACH day to the stadium. The coaches finally found some good people who allowed the athletes to stay at their homes. It was NUTS!
The next summer was the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. I remember watching John Carlos and Tommy Smith on the medal stand--sharing a pair of black gloves, they raised their fists in a show of black pride. People were horrified. But I got it..because I saw how they were treated at BYU and Provo, Utah!
When BYU’s football team was getting shellacked every year by teams with black players the President (Prophet) of the Church had a “revelation” that blacks should be allowed in The Church, BYU started winning football and basketball games again!
Wow, thank you for the history.
smh
Wow Helen, this is an amazing glimpse into history. I was born in 1966. I never really knew the extent of what blacks were up against... It's for sure they are amazing athletes. Thank you for this history lesson..
African-Americans have been treated shabbily in America. Jim Crow laws, voting discrimination, redlining (prevented from buying homes in certain areas of cities), and segregation in schools until the late 1950s (Brown v Board of Education Supreme Court.
Our family would drive from Ohio to Florida every spring for 2 weeks vacation...stayed with our grandmother in Clearwater in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Signs on beach “No dogs or colored on beach.” Restaurants would have signs that said “We have the right to refuse service to anyone” and it would have a cartoon black person smiling and eating a big slice of watermelon.
The bathrooms would have “whites only” and sometimes “Colored” but usually there wasn’t a second bathroom, so black families had to urinate in fields. Same with water fountains--marked colored and whites only.
Jesse Owens after winning gold medals at the 1936 Olympics---swept the sprints defying Hitler and his German white blonde “Master race” came home to the US and wasn’t allowed in hotels and restaurants.
Read “The Help” or watch the movie. The USA was one of the last countries in the world to end slavery and it took a civil war that killed 600,000 Americans and a strong president Abraham Lincoln to pass the Emancipation Proclamation BUT more important got the partisan congress to pass the 13th amendment which abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime.
An amendment takes 2/3rds of congress to pass and ratification by 3/4ths of the states. Mississippi did NOT ratify a law against slavery until 1995! And didn’t make it official until 2013 when the movie “Lincoln” came out starring Daniel Day-Lewis. Now MS didn’t have slavery--a federal law is the standard.
That was really informative .. Iam from India born in 1961 and did know something about Martin Luther King when I was growing up ( Mohammed Ali was huge out here as well ) but what you have written is a real eye opener for me. I guess it is in the nature of human beings to discriminate whether on basis of color or religion or caste ( as it happens here in India ), but the good thing about free democratic societies is that it gives us a chance to learn and evolve. America has come a long way from the 1960s ..and we are learning as well though there may be some gremlins here and there ..
Considering the year it took place (1968), the amount Beamon's leap broke the record by (21+ inches), and how long the record stood (23 years), this is arguably the greatest individual moment in sports history. Astonishing that it remains the Olympic record and 2nd longest jump (wind legal) in history.
Bob's jump here was akin to someone running 3:45 in the mile, before Roger Bannister even broke 4 flat.
Massive achievement !
Great thing it was captured on film.
I love those hops he continues to do.
@moonwalker5800 The silver medalist didn't even jump 27 feet. If it was all about the altitude than everyone would be jumping far. Do that math.
Oh I didn't know about this until I read Irresistible by Adam Alter. Mr Beamon is such a force of this humankind and this video makes me want to cry.
The height he reaches at about the 0:23 second mark of this video is jaw dropping!
29ft 2.5in is what really stuck in my mind. I just heard it a long time ago in some tv commercials but it still stuck in mind. When I youtube the actual jump, besides it being a world record, it was a beauty to watch.
This jump was the greatest record of ANY kind in the history of sport.
To put this record in perspective; It would be like someone running a 3:30 mile, or a high jumping 9 ft..
This jump was such a shock to Beamon's body that he never jumped over 27' again. It was explained that he physiologically rejected ever doing it to himself again. He still jumped 26+ at the 1969 US outdoor nationals and won. Great competitor.
Simply the greatest track and field feats of all time. Amazing!
This is the most amazing thing I've ever seen.
He beat the record by 6.5%, which is immense. In the sprints, that would be equivalent to someone running 100m in 8.95, beating Bolt's record of 9.58
Didn't know there was footage, especially of the man himself speaking on it. Powerful.
This was a year before I was born. So amazing to watch. Thanks for posting.
One thing is for sure: no one is likely to ever break the long jump world record again by that percentage. It would take a jump of about 30 foot 9 inches. Crazy.
I watched this live on tv one of the greatest moments in athletic history.
There used to be a bar in a Boston hotel with 2 plaques commemorating the achievement, one representing the fault line and one where he landed. As I stood at the near-empty bar, I was absolutely astonished at the distance. And I had seen the jump when it happened on TV. One more thing to raise a glass to.
This is not to be believed. They did't even have a tape long enough to measure it. The best olympic achievement ever.
I remember watching this on TV as a kid. One of the most remarkable sporting achievements. I can’t think of any record getting obliterated like that long jump record did by Beamon.
I’ve watched this leap a thousand times and I swear when he puts his legs up for the landing it’s like you can see his whole body levitate up a few more inches. Amazing.
Yes. Like it was partially magic.
Only sportsman in history to create an adjective for extraordinary
achievement: Beamonesque. Says it all.
I think that jump in perspective is the greatest of all the world records
Agreed. Definately one of the most amazing sports moments EVER.
if he played basketball, then he'd dunk from the 3 point line LOL
Well, he's land at the 3. His arms would reach about 2-3 feet off the ground at best at that point, so probably no dunking haha
Different kind of jumping all together believe it or not!
He'd make it to the basket alright! With a running head start his head would be as high as the basket and his arms would be above his head--easy dunk! You people have no logical imagination!
Yeah I think he could dunk from 3 point line. A high school or college 3 point line is 19 ft and 9 in from the basket. So theoretically he would reach the basket slightly after the peak altitude of his jump where I feel like he would be high enough to dunk.
Michael Jordan did that once
This is a mark in sports that sort of slips through the cracks, with regards to how incredible it was. He beat the previous world record by almost 2 feet!!! It is one of those rare occurrences in sports where everything falls into place and as noted below you have to see the distance to appreciate it. Think of all the new training techniques athletes now have, along with space-aged materials for shoes. It is one of the most incredible world records in Track and Field history with regards to when it happened, where it happened and how long it stood into the modern age.
I can remember this as a 9 year old watching on TV. The amount by which he eclipsed the old record blew me away!
when i was watching this i was like: "it doesn't look THAT far...."
until i measured it with a tape.... and its freakin insane
I remember seeing this live, Mr. Beamon’s reaction was and still is priceless!
Greatest record in the history of sports, period. Dick Schapp's book "The Perfect Jump" is a good read.
As a former basketball player I always used to think about it like this, Imagine Lebron James jumped from 5 feet behind the nba 3pt line and had his feet land at the baseline... Think about that, the sheer absurdity of that distance.. I still think the long jump records are the most incredible in human history. You really can't fully appreciate it until you pull out a measuring tape and see it with your won eyes.. You get the feeling of, "absolutely no way this is humanly possible.. this is flying".
Unbelievable I have seen this live I have been blessed 2 of lived in this era. I have seen the likes of Muhammad Ali Usain Bolt Bob Beamon Michael Jordan the list can go on and on. But this era from the 1960s until today that must be the best time in sports. There are a lot of names that I did not mention my text would go on forever and ever but I thank all of these athletes for entertaining me
Thank you for your sincere and humble spirit. Were are in the beginnings of Nazi Germany like times, so we were indeed blessed to have had so many to respect, admire and enjoy.
@@sagacioussage899 Thank you for your comment on my article about Bob Beamon. I just seen it September 23rd 2021.
He basically jumped from the top of the key NBA 3 point line to the baseline, and then another foot and some change.
Damn!!
In football he jump a first down
@@michaelwoodward9894 3 feet in a yard. You're exactly right. Think about that!!!!! He jumped to a first down. Literally. THAT'S INSANE
Mr Bob Beamon.... 1968 l was 11 yrs old when u made that incredible long jump. 2 👀👀 u interviewed all these yrs later showed me that u r a nice humble guy. We will never 4get ur God given talent. Blessings 2 U & ur family
Bob Beamon’s jump was beyond incredible, it was long jump perfection!
I grew up idolizing that jump.
Jon Bois brought me here.
thanks jon
A thing of beauty. I remember seeing on TV in '68 and being totally gobsmacked by this man who could fly! No other words for it, he flew!
he jumped out of my computer screen and into another universe
Yea, he jumped off of my Windows computer screen and landed on the Linux screen on the other side of the room.
Love how a clip from 1968 is car better quality than the 1991 video.
50+ years later and it's still the Olympic record!
Love this jump, the landing and spring up and dance was classic.
I remember watching this event on TV. Unsure if it was live but what an impact Beamon made on the Olympics. Our entire team did well.
The best thing about this video is the hat guy behind him not believing what he just witnessed.
Bro there's like twenty fucking hat guys behind him
Lol.
Doctor Jones rigth? Which hat guy is he talking about
Yeah the guy with a shirt was pretty shocked too.
The man just decided to jump, gravity or any other force that could have been in play, were not in play that moment. I agree with Lava 1964
Congratulations Mr. Beamon. Millions including me were watching on TV.
I was 8 years old in 1968. As a young boy. Watching Bob break the long jump record. Would stay with me to this day. I found out later. That I could not jump very far in High school. So my dream of being a long jumper was over. But during the next Olympics in 72 and 76. I caught the long distance running bug. Watching the American's win the Gold in the Marathons. I found my niche. Then took up running. The craze for running was taking over in America. At 29 years old I took up running. Ran till I was 40. Running half Marathons and Marathons. Any long distance race I could find. Ran a 5 minute mile when I was 37. To this day. Watching the Olympics in 68, 72 and 76. Was a dream for me even though I never ran or jumped in the Olympics. I had great hope of reaching that level. Dream on young people! It could be you. Up there on the stage receiving the gold for the United States of America. Shawn.