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Athletics at the 1948 Summer Olympics – Men's long jump

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Men's long jump
at the Games of the XIV Olympiad
Olympic Stadium (during opening ceremony)
VenueWembley Stadium
DateJuly 31 (qualifying and final)
Competitors21 from 17 nations
Winning distance7.825
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Willie Steele
 United States
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Theo Bruce
 Australia
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Herb Douglas
 United States
← 1936
1952 →
Video on YouTube Official Video
@ 19:25

The men's long jump event was part of the track and field athletics programme at the 1948 Summer Olympics. The competition was held on July 31, 1948. Twenty-one athletes from 17 nations competed.[1] The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The final was won by 27cm by American Willie Steele.[2] It was the United States' fifth consecutive and tenth overall gold medal in the men's long jump. Theo Bruce won Australia's first long jump medal with his silver.

Background

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This was the 11th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. None of the jumpers from the pre-war 1936 Games returned. Willie Steele was the favorite; he had won the 1946 and 1947 AAU championships as well as the 1948 U.S. Olympic trials (nearly breaking Jesse Owens's world record, fouling on his would-be record jump). However, Steele came into London with an injured ankle.[1]

Ceylon, Guyana, Iceland, South Korea, and Portugal each made their first appearance in the event. The United States appeared for the 11th time, the only nation to have long jumpers at each of the Games thus far.

Competition format

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The 1948 competition used a two-round format that took aspects from both the pre-1936 formats and the unusual three-round 1936 tournament. The qualifying round gave each competitor three jumps to achieve a distance of 7.20 metres; if fewer than 12 men did so, the top 12 (including all those tied) would advance. The final provided each jumper with six jumps, with the best to count (qualifying round jumps were not considered for the final).[1][3]

Records

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Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.

World record  Jesse Owens (USA) 8.13 Ann Arbor, United States 25 May 1935
Olympic record  Jesse Owens (USA) 8.06 Berlin, Germany 4 August 1936

No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition.

Schedule

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All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1)

Date Time Round
Friday, 31 July 1948 11:00
16:45
Qualifying
Finals

Results

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Qualifying

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Qual. rule: qualification standard 7.20m (Q) or at least best 12 qualified (q).

Rank Group Athlete Nation 1 2 3 Distance Notes
1 B Willie Steele  United States 7.780 7.780 Q
2 B Lorenzo Wright  United States 7.530 7.530 Q
3 A Herb Douglas  United States 7.240 7.240 Q
4 A Theo Bruce  Australia 7.200 7.200 Q
5 A Enrique Kistenmacher  Argentina 7.180 X 7.100 7.180 q
6 A Harry Askew  Great Britain 7.140 6.810 7.070 7.140 q
7 A Adegboyega Folaranmi Adedoyin  Great Britain 7.130 7.030 6.960 7.130 q
8 B Felix Würth  Austria 7.080 6.980 6.950 7.080 q
9 A Edward Adamczyk  Poland 5.070 7.030 7.030 7.030 q
10 B Harry Whittle  Great Britain 6.560 7.030 6.930 7.030 q
11 B Baldev Singh  India X 7.000 6.780 7.000 q
12 A Georges Damitio  France 6.980 6.770 6.610 6.980 q
13 B Jean Studer  Switzerland 6.820 6.880 6.940 6.940
14 B Finnbjörn Þorvaldsson  Iceland X X 6.860 6.860
15 A Jaroslav Fikejz  Czechoslovakia 6.560 6.860 6.790 6.860
16 B Álvaro Dias  Portugal 6.460 6.780 6.860 6.860
17 A Kyros Marinis  Greece X X 6.750 6.750
18 A Kim Won-kwon  South Korea 6.710 X X 6.710
19 B Charles Thompson  Guyana 6.580 6.580
20 A Jorge Aguirre  Mexico 5.910 X X 5.910
21 B Gallage Peiris  Ceylon X X X No mark
Gordon George Avery  Australia DNS
Lionel Fournier  Canada DNS
Peter Mullins  Australia DNS
Geraldo de Oliveira  Brazil DNS
Jack Parry  Canada DNS
René Valmy  France DNS

Final

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Results of individual jumps are not known other than for Steele. Steele's first jump was 7.825 metres and his second 7.680 metres; he did not take any further jumps. Steele's result was the best non-wind-assisted jump in Olympic history.

Rank Athlete Nation Distance
1st place, gold medalist(s) Willie Steele  United States 7.825
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Theo Bruce  Australia 7.555
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Herb Douglas  United States 7.545
4 Lorenzo Wright  United States 7.450
5 Adegboyega Folaranmi Adedoyin  Great Britain 7.270
6 Georges Damitio  France 7.070
7 Harry Whittle  Great Britain 7.030
8 Felix Würth  Austria 7.000
9 Harry Askew  Great Britain 6.935
10 Enrique Kistenmacher  Argentina 6.800
11 Edward Adamczyk  Poland 6.735
Baldev Singh  India DNS

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Long Jump, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  2. ^ "Athletics at the 1948 London Summer Games: Men's Long Jump". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
  3. ^ Official Report, p. 267.