Athletics at the 1896 Summer Olympics – Men's long jump

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Men's long jump
at the Games of the I Olympiad
Panathinaiko Stadium
Dates7 April 1896
Competitors9 from 5 nations
Winning distance6.35 OR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Ellery Harding Clark
 United States
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Robert Garrett
 United States
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) James Brendan Connolly
 United States
1900 →
Athletics at the
1896 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 mmen
400 mmen
800 mmen
1500 mmen
110 m hurdlesmen
Road events
Marathonmen
Field events
Long jumpmen
Triple jumpmen
High jumpmen
Pole vaultmen
Shot putmen
Discus throwmen

The men's long jump was one of four jumping events on the Athletics at the 1896 Summer Olympics programme. There were nine contestants in the long jump, held on 7 April. The American jumpers proved themselves dominant in taking the top three spots. The event was won by Ellery Harding Clark. Clark would later win the high jump as well, becoming the only man (through 2016, at least) to win both the high jump and long jump in the Olympics.

Summary

Clark's first two jumps were fouls, but his third was by far the best of the field. He had used his hat as a marker along the runway for the first two jumps, which Constantine I of Greece (acting as the judge in the event) had declared inconsistent with amateurism; the king removed the hat both times. For the third attempt, Clark did not attempt to use the hat.[1]

Background

This was the first appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. There were 23 entrants, but only nine men actually started.[2][3]

Competition format

There was a single round of jumping. Each athlete made three jumps.[2][4]

Records

There were no standing Olympic records (as this was the first Games) before the event. The IAAF did not start ratifying official world records until 1912.

World record  John Mooney (IRL)* 7.21 m (23 ft 7+3⁄4 in) Mitchelstown 5 September 1894[5]
Olympic record N/A N/A N/A N/A

* unofficial

The following record was established during the competition:

Date Event Athlete Nation Distance (m) Record
April 7 Final Ellery Harding Clark  United States 6.35 OR

Schedule

The exact time of the contest is not known; it was the second event of the afternoon session on Tuesday. The session started at 2:30 p.m.; the long jump came after two heats of the 110 metres hurdles.

Date Time Round
Gregorian Julian
Tuesday, 7 April 1896 Tuesday, 26 March 1896 Final

Results

As with many early Olympic events, the complete results are unclear and disputed. The table below provides results consistent with the IOC's website results page.[6] The Official Report says that only eight men competed; it lists only four: Chalkokondylis and Skaltsogiannis as the Greeks who competed, and Clark and Garrett as the prize winners. It gives Garrett's distance at 6.00 metres.[4] Olympedia follows the Official Report rather than the IOC results page for Garrett's distance, puts Connolly's best jump at 5.84 metres, gives Chalkokondylis in fourth place (using the 5.74 metres from the IOC), and cites the remaining 5 jumpers all as "also competed" with no distance given; Olympedia also lists the 14 non-starters shown below (though this would make 23 entries rather than the 18 provided by both Olympedia itself and the Official Report).[2] Kluge uses the flat 6 metres for Garrett and puts Connolly's jump (rather than that of Chalkokondylis) at 5.74 metres, marking all six remaining men as "also competed."[7] Zur Megede matches the IOC page through the top five, but Sjöberg is replaced by the Hungarian Desiderius Wein with a distance of 5.64 metres, placing him after Schuhmann; Schuhmann (with the same 5.70 metres as the IOC) is moved up to 6th without Sjöberg and with Chalkokondylis being marked as "also competed."[8] No source lists the results of individual jumps, other than remarking that Clark fouled on his first two attempts and achieved his 6.35 metres on the final one.

Rank Athlete Nation Distance Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) Ellery Harding Clark  United States 6.35 OR
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Robert Garrett  United States 6.18
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) James Brendan Connolly  United States 6.11
4 Alexandre Tuffèri  France 5.98
5 Adolphe Grisel  France 5.83
6 Henrik Sjöberg  Sweden 5.80
7 Alexandros Chalkokondylis  Greece 5.74
8 Carl Schuhmann  Germany 5.70
9 Athanasios Skaltsogiannis  Greece Unknown
— Harald Arbin  Sweden DNS
Thomas Curtis  United States DNS
Nándor Dáni  Hungary DNS
Ralph Derr  United States DNS
Kurt Doerry  Germany DNS
Alfred Flatow  Germany DNS
Carl Galle  Germany DNS
Fritz Hofmann  Germany DNS
Konstantinos Mouratis  Greece DNS
Pál Péthy  Hungary DNS
Alajos Szokolyi  Hungary DNS
Momcsilló Tapavicza
  Hungary DNS
Friedrich Traun  Germany DNS
Hermann Weingärtner  Germany DNS

References

  1. ^ Herman de Wael. "Biographies - CL". Great Olympians. Archived from the original on 2007-11-03. Retrieved 2020-08-31.
  2. ^ a b c "Long Jump, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 31 August 2020.
  3. ^ Official Report, p. 68.
  4. ^ a b Official Report, pp. 68–69.
  5. ^ "Track and Field Statistics". trackfield.brinkster.net. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  6. ^ "Long Jump Men". IOC. Retrieved 2020-08-31.
  7. ISBN 3-328-00715-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
    )
  8. ^ Ekkehard zur Megede (1970). Die Geschichte der olympischen Leichtathletik, Band 1: 1896–1936 (2nd ed.). Berlin: Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG.


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