Bob Beamon

Bob Beamon is an American long jumper whose 8.90-meter leap at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics set a world record that stood for nearly 23 years.

1968 Summer Olympics: The Summer Olympic Games held in Mexico City from October 12 to October 27, 1968. Beamon produced his record leap during the long-jump competition at these Games.
Long jump: A track-and-field event in which athletes sprint, take off from a board, and jump for distance into a sand pit. Beamon's achievement was a performance in this event.
Men's long jump world record progression: The sequence of officially recognized world records in the men's long jump. Beamon's 8.90 meters was a landmark entry in the event's record progression.
Michael Johnson: An American sprinter who won four Olympic gold medals and set world records in the 200 and 400 meters. Johnson later became a prominent American track-and-field champion in a different event.
Mexico City: Mexico's capital, located at high elevation in the Valley of Mexico. Its thin air shaped the conditions under which Beamon jumped.
Long jump takeoff: The phase in which a long jumper plants a foot at the board and converts approach speed into flight. Beamon's takeoff helped turn his sprinting speed into his record leap.
Bob Beamon effect: A term for a sudden, dramatic improvement that makes earlier expectations seem obsolete. The phrase draws on the shock of Beamon's leap far beyond the previous record.
Dick Fosbury: An American high jumper who won the 1968 Olympic gold medal using the backward-jumping technique later named for him. Fosbury and Beamon were fellow American champions whose performances defined the same Games.
8.90-meter long jump: Bob Beamon's long jump at the 1968 Olympics, measured at 8.90 meters. This single performance made Beamon's name synonymous with an extraordinary world record.
Fosbury Flop: A high-jump technique in which athletes clear the bar while arching backward. Dick Fosbury's celebrated Olympic technique belonged to a different jumping event, despite sharing the same Games.

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