Triple jump at the Olympic Games

At the Beijing Olympic games seven jumpers went over 17 meters, a remarkable performance that makes one wonder who can win in London in 2012 and what distance the athletes can reach at the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games in 2016.

The only thing against best possible results may be they will jump at sea level in Rio as well as London. If the games will be held somewhere in the Andes next, in cities like La Paz or Lima, these athletes may jump over 20 meters.

Looking back one can’t but recall the incredible Viktor Saneyev of former Soviet Union who won the Olympic triple jump three times – in 1968, 1972 and 1976, and only missed his forth gold by five inches in 1980.

Jonathan Edwards of Great Britain dominated the event for a number of years and  still holds the World Record of incredible 18.29 meters, which is over 60 feet, and constitutes a phenomenal average of 6 meters plus per each hop, step and jump.

British track and field has his worthy follower in Phillips Idowu who placed second at the Olympic Games in Beijing with a jump of 17.62 meters. The event was won by Nelson Evora of Portugal who beat Idowu by mere 5 centimeters.

Brazil will certainly hope for their top triple jumper to shine at the Rio de Janiero Olympics. Jadel Gregório placed 6th in Beijing with 17.20 m, a fine jump and hard to believe that it was not enough for a medal.

Triple jump used to be an event that few non-track and field enthusiasts even noticed. At the Melbourne Olympic Games in 1956 the best of the filed jumped only over 15 meters. Today even women go over 15 meters and with the men’s World Record being over 18 meters and jumpers routinely going over 17 meters it is an exciting event to watch.