EUGENE, OR — The main message from long jumpers is that it’s not that big of a jump. The idea is to leave the sport alone, including the fouls.
World Athletics has been looking at ways to reduce blemishes in competition by looking at the take-off board, rather than the usual take-off board, which means every jump is measured within the area, removing some of the art and science of hitting the sweet spot on the board at top speed to get a long jump.
Although it’s still being tested and nothing could affect the upcoming Paris Olympics, the proposal could potentially open up an event that could involve everyone from Olympic great Carl Lewis to gold medalist Brittany Rees, jumpers at the European Championships and USA Track and Field. This is an approach that changes . in.
Current Olympic and world champion Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece is so opposed to the idea that if it were adopted he would switch to the triple jump and end his long jump career.
“Why should we change this?” Tentoglou wondered after winning the long jump at the European Championships this month.
The idea behind the change is simply to increase the number of jumps and reduce the number of fouls and red flags that can be life-draining in long jump competitions. Sports governing bodies are conducting tests around the world and across training groups to see how effective the changes are. Testing continues throughout the outdoor season.
“They will take too much away.” said Rees, a three-time Olympic medalist in the long jump, including gold at the 2012 London Olympics. “We’re taking the science out of it, taking the difficulty out of it, and making the jump easier.”
The sport is looking for innovative ways to revitalize some of its disciplines, and the long jump, once home to some of the sport’s greatest athletes including Lewis, Jesse Owens and Bob Beamon, is high on the list.
“If you’ve spent your whole life perfecting a springboard and then you suddenly replace it with a springboard, I think there’s going to be some initial resistance,” Jon Ridgeon, CEO of World Athletics, said earlier this year on an episode of the “Anything but Footy” podcast. “We think it’s worth a shot.”
“April Fools’ jokes have to wait until April 1st,” Lewis wrote on social media in February.
He later wrote: “It seems to support what I said about the long jump being the most difficult event in athletics. That would just remove the most difficult skill from the event.”
Lewis, a sprinter who won four Olympic gold medals in the long jump, likened the change to making a basketball hoop wider to improve free throw ability.
World Athletics President Sebastian Coe told NBC that he had asked long jumpers for feedback.
“This won’t happen overnight. We will road test it properly,” Coe said. “If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. If it doesn’t work, we won’t subject people to it.”
Lewis argued in a social media post that these kinds of changes would not improve the distance and would not, on their own, jeopardize Mike Powell’s 32-year-old world record of 8.95m. Lewis said in his post that this comes down to a question of technique and that “the lack of discipline and consistency on the runway will only get worse.”
No male long jumper has finished in the top 15 of all time since 2009. The top 25 women’s records all date back to before 2002, with the highest being 7.52m by Galina Chistyakova in 1988.
The impetus to take a closer look at the long jump was sparked by last summer’s World Championships in Budapest, Hungary. About 30% of attempts in the men’s and women’s finals were fouled.
“Yes, it’s cool to jump long,” said U.S. long jumper Marquis Dendy. “Yes, it hurts when you see the red flags. But I think it’s just part of the event. I’ve had a lot of long fouls. Do I want that back? No. I’d rather go and watch film and figure out how to be a better person.”
In Dendi’s opinion, there is room for compromise. Even if it is a foul, show the sign. That way, the fans can see what happened.
“We don’t have to guess what it is and we still play the same story,” Dendy said. “I feel like (the jumping zone) opens up a whole new assortment of jumping stars.
“I’m sure the foul committed by Carl Lewis was probably nine metres, and the foul committed by Mike Powell was very far. That’s part of their journey.”
Leeds took the idea of a take-off zone for street meet competitions.
“I think that would be really cool,” Reese said. “But I’m not really concerned about just putting it in (a big gathering).”
Neither does Tentoglu.
“I don’t really like long jumping.” Tentoglu said. “If they do this, I’ll do the triple jump.”
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Dampf reported from Rome.
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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
