1948 Summer Olympics / Athletics - Long Jump (Men)

sport	athletics
discipline	Long jump
gender	Men
Attendees	21 athletes from 17 countries
Competition location	Wembley Stadium
Competition phase	July 31, 1948
Medalist Willie Steele ( USA )   Theo Bruce ( AUS )   Herb Douglas ( USA )

The men's long jump at the 1948 Olympic Games in London was held on July 31, 1948 at Wembley Stadium . 21 athletes took part.

The American Willie Steele became Olympic champion . He won ahead of the Australian Theo Bruce and the American Herb Douglas .

Existing records

• World record : 8.13 m - Jesse Owens ( USA ), Ann Arbor , May 25, 1935
• Olympic record : 8.06 m - Jesse Owens ( USA ), Olympic final in Berlin , August 4, 1936

Note: The Olympic record was officially set at 8.06 m and Jesse Owens was the record holder, despite an irregular tailwind when he jumped.

Conducting the competition

Participants competed in a qualifying round on July 31. The required qualifying distance was 7.20 meters. All jumpers who managed this distance qualified for the final on the same day. If fewer than 12 athletes jumped the distance, the final field was filled to 12 athletes based on the distances achieved in the qualification.

Note: The directly qualified athletes are highlighted in light blue. The qualifiers who did not make the required distance but were still able to qualify are highlighted in light green. Only the best is recorded. The order and length of further attempts in qualification are unknown.

qualification

July 31, 1948, 11 a.m.

Group A

space	Surname	nation	Expanse	annotation
1	Herb Douglas	United States	7.24 m
2	Theo Bruce	Australia	7.20 m
3	Enrique box maker	Argentina	7.18 m
4th	Harry Askew	Great Britain	7.14 m
5	Adegboyega Folaranmi Adedoyin	Great Britain	7.13 m
6th	Edward Adamczyk	Poland	7.03 m
7th	Georges Mitio	France	6.98 m
8th	Jaroslav Fikejz	Czechoslovakia	6.86 m
9	Cyrus Marinis	Greece	6.75 m
10	Kim Won-kwon	South Korea	6.71 m
11	Jorge Aguirre	Mexico	5.91 m

Group B

space	Surname	nation	Expanse	annotation
1	Willie Steele	United States	7.78 m
2	Lorenzo Wright	United States	7.53 m
3	Felix Würth	Austria	7.08 m
4th	Harry Whittle	Great Britain	7.03 m
5	Baldev Singh	India	7.13 m
6th	Jean Studer	Switzerland	6.94 m
7th	Finnbjörn Þorvaldsson	Iceland	6.89 m
8th	Álvaro Dias	Portugal	6.86 m
9	Charles Thompson	British Guiana	6.58 m
ogV	Gallage Peiris	Ceylon

final

Note: The test series are unknown. Only the best scores are transmitted. It was measured in the British system (feet, inches), so half a centimeter is also given.

space	Surname	nation	Expanse	annotation
1	Willie Steele	United States	7.825 m
2	Theo Bruce	Australia	7.555 m
3	Herb Douglas	United States	7.545 m
4th	Lorenzo Wright	United States	7.450 m
5	Adegboyega Folaranmi Adedoyin	Great Britain	7,270 m
6th	Georges Mitio	France	7,070 m
7th	Harry Whittle	Great Britain	7,030 m
8th	Felix Würth	Austria	7,000 m
9	Harry Askew	Great Britain	6,935 m
10	Enrique box maker	Argentina	6,800 m
11	Edward Adamczyk	Poland	6.735 m

July 31, 1948, 4:45 p.m.

In the final, in which Indian Baldev Singh did not take part, Willie Steele (USA) was the top favorite. However, he had to struggle with injuries again and again in the preparation phase. In qualifying, an Achilles tendon injury that had already healed and was extremely painful reappeared. Steele reached the final without any problems, but only made two jumps and had to forego further attempts. His opponents failed to surpass Steele's distance. The distance of his second attempt - he jumped 7.680 m - would have been enough for the gold medal. In the eleventh Olympic competition, Willie Steele jumped to the tenth US gold medal.
US jumpers alone won 21 of 33 medals.
Theo Bruce won the first medal for Australia in the long jump.

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 2: 1948–1968, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 1st edition 1969. p. 35

Web links

• SportsReference long jump , accessed August 22, 2017
• Official report , p. 267, engl. (PDF), accessed on August 22, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Berlin 2009, page 556 ( Memento from June 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
2. ↑ Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 2: 1948–1968, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 1st edition 1969, p. 207
3. ^ Official report "Athletic Timetable" page 240
4. ^ Official report "Athletic Timetable" p. 240, engl. (PDF)
5. ↑ SportsReference (Eng.)
6. ↑ SportsReference (Eng.)