Mike Powell

This article is about the track and field athlete Mike Powell. For other individuals, see Michael Powell (disambiguation) .

Mike Powell
Full name	Michael Anthony Powell
nation	United States
date of birth	November 10, 1963
place of birth	Philadelphia ,  Pennsylvania , United States
size	188 cm
weight	77 kg
Career
discipline	Long jump
Best performance	8.95 m
society	Foot Locker Athletic Club
status	resigned
Medal table
Olympic games 0 × 2 × 0 × World championships 2 × 0 × 1 ×
Olympic games silver Seoul 1988 Long jump silver Barcelona 1992 Long jump  World championships gold Tokyo 1991 Long jump gold Stuttgart 1993 Long jump bronze Gothenburg 1995 Long jump

Michael Anthony "Mike" Powell (born November 10, 1963 in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania ) is a retired American athlete . Since 1991 he has been the world record holder in the long jump with a distance of 8.95 m .

The record jump

Powell exceeded with 8.95 m on August 30, 1991 in the long jump final at the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo, the legendary record of 8.90 m, which his compatriot Bob Beamon had set up at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico and which lasted 23 years would have.

In an exciting duel with the multiple Olympic champion Carl Lewis , he won the world title thanks to this jump. Lewis achieved a distance of 8.91 m in his fourth jump during the best long jump competition so far, but with too much tailwind, so that the record could not be counted. By his fourth jump, Powell had come very close to the world record, indicating that he was in fantastic shape; however, this attempt was considered invalid. After two less brilliant jumps, he broke the world record on his fifth attempt with a perfect jump and jumped 8.95 m. Lewis, who jumped the best series of his entire career in this competition (four jumps over 8.80 meters), could not break Powell's world record despite two other giant sets of 8.87 m and 8.84 m.

Here is the exact development of the competition:

• 1st jump → Powell 7.85 m / Lewis 8.68 m
• 2nd jump → Powell 8.54 m / Lewis stepped over
• 3rd jump → Powell 8.29 m / Lewis 8.83 mw
• 4th jump → Powell crossed / Lewis 8.91 mw
• 5th jump → Powell 8.95 m / Lewis 8.87 m
• 6th jump → Powell overstepped / Lewis 8.84 m

In retrospect, an attempt was made to understand why both jumpers had such a series on that day. In contrast to the record beam, an excessively high tailwind and an error in the distance measuring system could be excluded. So the suspicion fell on a jumping board that was too elastic. However, this could no longer be checked because the board had meanwhile been replaced during regular maintenance of the stadium. Only the run-up track turned out to be extraordinarily elastic - today, its surface no longer complies with the IAAF regulations .

Further career

In 1988 in Seoul and 1992 in Barcelona he won the silver medal at the Olympic Games behind Lewis. In 1993 he was able to successfully defend his world title.

After the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta Powell announced his retirement from active sports, but returned in 2001 to qualify for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens , which he did not succeed.

Mike Powell received the IAAF International Fair Play Award at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka . The prize is awarded every two years to athletes who are exemplary in athletics on and off the track. Powell works as a coach at the University of California and is an ambassador for the IAAF.

Personal best

• 100 m 10.48 s
• 200 m 21.21 s
• High jump 2.16 m
• Long jump 8.95 m
• Triple jump 15.76 m

Web links

• Mike Powell in the database of Olympedia.org (English)
• International Fair Play Award goes to Mike Powell