Jeffrey Henderson (born February 19, 1989) is an American track and field athlete who competes in the long jump and 100-meter dash. He has a personal record of 8.52 m (27 ft 11+1⁄4 in) for the long jump by winning the 2015 Pan Am Games gold medal. At the long jump at the 2016 Summer Olympics, Henderson captured gold for Team USA, its first in the event since 2004. Henderson added a silver medal at the 2019 outdoor world championships. Other top results include becoming the 2014, 2016 and 2018 USA Outdoor national long jump champion.
Career
Henderson was raised in McAlmont, Arkansas. While attending Sylvan Hills High School, he won the long jump at the 2007 Arkansas Activities Association Class 6A state high school track and field championships with a 7.29 m (23 ft 11 in) jump, followed by a 7.32 m (24 ft 0 in) jump at the 2007 Arkansas Meet of Champions (MOC) high school meet. Since 2007, he maintains the state high school decathlon record in the 100-meter dash with his 10.84 seconds run. He previously held the Arkansas MOC record in the triple jump with a 14.40 m (47 ft 2+3⁄4 in) leap.[2]
He went on to study at Hinds Community College, Florida Memorial University and Stillman College where he competed for the Hinds CC Eagles, Florida Memorial Lions and Stillman Tigers track teams. At Hinds CC, Henderson became the NJCAA Division 1 2008 indoor national champion (long jump), 2008 outdoor national champion (long jump, 100 meters), and 2009 outdoor national champion (long jump and 4x100 meter relay team).[3]
At the 2015 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, Henderson jumped 8.44 m (27 ft 8+1⁄4 in) to earn a silver medal. At the 2015 Pan Am Games on July 22, 2015, he won with a leap of 8.52 m (27 ft 11+1⁄4 in). He had previously jumped 8.54 m (28 ft 0 in), but the jump was not counted as it was wind-aided (+4.1 m/s).[7] At the 2015 World Championships in Athletics – Men's long jump, he jumped 8.36 m (27 ft 5 in) in the prelim to advance to the final, and jumped 7.95 m (26 ft 3⁄4 in) in the final to place 8th.