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. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The final was won by 27 cm by American Willie Steele. 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

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.

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

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).Official Report, p. 267.

Records

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

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

Schedule

All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1)

Date Time Round Friday, 31 July 1948 11:0016:45 QualifyingFinals

Results

Qualifying

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 7.780 – – 7.780 2 B Lorenzo Wright 7.530 – – 7.530 3 A Herb Douglas 7.240 – – 7.240 4 A Theo Bruce 7.200 – – 7.200 5 A Enrique Kistenmacher 7.180 X 7.100 7.180 6 A Harry Askew 7.140 6.810 7.070 7.140 7 A Adegboyega Folaranmi Adedoyin 7.130 7.030 6.960 7.130 8 B Felix Würth 7.080 6.980 6.950 7.080 9 A Edward Adamczyk 5.070 7.030 7.030 7.030 10 B Harry Whittle 6.560 7.030 6.930 7.030 11 B Baldev Singh X 7.000 6.780 7.000 12 A Georges Damitio 6.980 6.770 6.610 6.980 13 B Jean Studer 6.820 6.880 6.940 6.940 14 B Finnbjörn Þorvaldsson X X 6.860 6.860 15 A Jaroslav Fikejz 6.560 6.860 6.790 6.860 16 B Álvaro Dias 6.460 6.780 6.860 6.860 17 A Kyros Marinis X X 6.750 6.750 18 A Kim Won-kwon 6.710 X X 6.710 19 B Charles Thompson 6.580 — — 6.580 20 A Jorge Aguirre 5.910 X X 5.910 21 B Gallage Peiris X X X No mark — — Gordon George Avery Lionel Fournier Peter Mullins Geraldo de Oliveira Jack Parry René Valmy

Final

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 Willie Steele 7.825 Theo Bruce 7.555 Herb Douglas 7.545 4 Lorenzo Wright 7.450 5 Adegboyega Folaranmi Adedoyin 7.270 6 Georges Damitio 7.070 7 Harry Whittle 7.030 8 Felix Würth 7.000 9 Harry Askew 6.935 10 Enrique Kistenmacher 6.800 11 Edward Adamczyk 6.735 — Baldev Singh

References