The men's long jump was an event at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California, United States. There were 31 participating athletes from 25 nations, with two qualifying groups, and the final held on August 6, 1984.[1] The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by 30 cm by Carl Lewis of the United States, the nation's 17th gold medal in the event. It was Lewis's second gold of the Games as he tried (successfully) to match Jesse Owens's 1936 quadruple (100 metres, 200 metres, 4 × 100 metres relay, and long jump). It was also the first of Lewis's four consecutive gold medals in the long jump and would prove to be his greatest winning margin for the Olympic long jump. Gary Honey gave Australia its first men's long jump medal since 1948; Giovanni Evangelisti won Italy's first-ever medal in the event.
Background
This was the 20th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. The only returning finalist from the 1980 Games was seventh-place finisher Antonio Corgos of Spain. American Carl Lewis was the clear favorite; in the four years since the 1980 Games (which he qualified for but would not have been a favorite at if the United States had competed) he had become "the greatest track & field athlete in the world" with wins in the 100 metres, long jump, and 4 × 100 metres relay at the inaugural 1983 world championships. His teammate Larry Myricks, who would have been the favorite in 1980 but for the boycott and would likely have medaled in 1976 but for a broken foot in warmups, was a significant challenger, as was Gary Honey of Australia, the 1982 Commonwealth champion.[2]
Cameroon, Chad, the People's Republic of China, Cyprus, Kenya, Mali, Paraguay, and the United Arab Emirates each made their first appearance in the event; the Republic of China appeared for the first time as "Chinese Taipei". The United States appeared for the 19th time, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.
Competition format
The 1984 competition used the two-round format with divided final introduced in 1952. The qualifying round gave each competitor three jumps to achieve a distance of 7.90 metres; if fewer than 12 men did so, the top 12 (including all those tied) would advance. The final provided each jumper with three jumps; the top eight jumpers received an additional three jumps for a total of six, with the best to count (qualifying round jumps were not considered for the final).[2][3]
Records
The standing world and Olympic records prior to the event were as follows.
