Athletics at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Men's long jump

Men's long jump
at the Games of the XXXII Olympiad
Olympic Athletics
VenueJapan National Stadium
Dates31 July 2021
(qualifying)
2 August 2021
(final)
Competitors31 from 20 nations
Winning distance8.41
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Miltiadis Tentoglou  Greece
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Juan Miguel Echevarría  Cuba
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Maykel Massó  Cuba
← 2016
2024 →

The men's long jump event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place between 31 July and 2 August 2021 at the Japan National Stadium.[1] Approximately 35 athletes were expected to compete; the exact number was dependent on how many nations use universality places to enter athletes in addition to the 32 qualifying through time or ranking (1 universality place was used in 2016).[2] 31 athletes from 20 nations competed.[3] Miltiadis Tentoglou won the gold medal, Greece's first medal in the men's long jump. Cuban athletes Juan Miguel Echevarría and Maykel Massó earned silver and bronze, respectively, the nation's first medals in the event since 2008.

For the first time in the men's Olympic long jump, the silver medallist achieved the exact same distance as the winner so the result was decided on countback, similar to the procedures for the high jump and pole vault.


Summary

[edit]

Injuries were to play a big role in the finals of this event. World leader Tajay Gayle showed up with his left knee taped, struggled down the runway to foul his first two attempts, finally getting a legal but non-qualifying jump on his third attempt. Maykel Massó took the lead as last jumper of the first round with an 8.21 metres, on his second attempt he seemed to tweak his left hamstring. He would not take another attempt. In the third round, Juan Miguel Echevarría put one together taking a big lead with 8.41 metres. A day after competing in the high jump final, JuVaughn Harrison struggled to qualify for the final three jumps in eighth. As the final jumper in the fourth round, Echevarría aborted his jump, coming out of the pit limping. He passed his fifth attempt. Leading off the fifth round, Harrison jumped 8.15 metres to move into bronze medal position. Later in the round, Thobias Montler jumped what looked like mid 8.30's, but it was a foul. Then Miltiadis Tentoglou matched Harrison with an 8.15 metres. Because Tentoglou had a previous jump of 8.11 metres as a tiebreaker, he took over bronze position. The final round proved the difference. Early on, Montler jumped well past the video estimated leading mark, but the jump again was a foul. Then Eusebio Cáceres came through with an 8.18 metres to take bronze position away from Tentoglou. Tentoglou answered being knocked off the podium by jumping 8.41 metres, matching Echevarría exactly. Again with the superior second best jump, Tentoglou took over the lead. It was time for the Cubans to answer, but Massó couldn't go, passing his final attempt, settling for bronze. Echevarría gave it a go, but as he ran down the runway it was clear he couldn't run. He stopped at the board, leaned down and pounded the foul marking plasticine in frustration.

Background

[edit]

This was the 29th appearance of the event, which was one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics.

No nations made their men's long jump debut in 2020. The United States appeared for the 28th time, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.

Qualification

[edit]

A National Olympic Committee (NOC) could enter up to 3 qualified athletes in the men's long jump event if all athletes meet the entry standard or qualify by ranking during the qualifying period. (The limit of 3 has been in place since the 1930 Olympic Congress.) The qualifying standard was 8.22 metres. This standard was "set for the sole purpose of qualifying athletes with exceptional performances unable to qualify through the IAAF World Rankings pathway." The world rankings, based on the average of the best five results for the athlete over the qualifying period and weighted by the importance of the meet, will then be used to qualify athletes until the cap of 32 is reached.[2][4]

The qualifying period was originally from 1 May 2019 to 29 June 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the period was suspended from 6 April 2020 to 30 November 2020, with the end date extended to 29 June 2021. The world rankings period start date was also changed from 1 May 2019 to 30 June 2020; athletes who had met the qualifying standard during that time were still qualified, but those using world rankings would not be able to count performances during that time. The qualifying time standards could be obtained in various meets during the given period that have the approval of the IAAF. Both outdoor and indoor meets are eligible. The most recent Area Championships may be counted in the ranking, even if not during the qualifying period.[2][5]

NOCs could also use their universality place—each NOC can enter one male athlete regardless of time if they had no male athletes meeting the entry standard for an athletics event—in the long jump.[2]

Entry number: 32.

Qualification standard No. of athletes NOC Nominated athletes
Entry standard – 8.22 3  China Gao Xinglong
Huang Changzhou
Zhang Yaoguang
3  Cuba Juan Miguel Echevarría
Lester Lescay
Maykel Massó
3  Japan Yuki Hashioka
Shotaro Shiroyama
Hibiki Tsuha
3  United States Marquis Dendy
JuVaughn Harrison
Steffin McCarter
2  Jamaica Tajay Gayle
Carey McLeod
2  South Africa Cheswill Johnson
Luvo Manyonga
Ruswahl Samaai
1  Brazil Samory Fraga
1  Canada Damian Warner
1  Finland Kristian Pulli
1  Greece Miltiadis Tentoglou
1  India M. Sreeshankar
1  Sweden Thobias Montler
1  Trinidad and Tobago Andwuelle Wright
World ranking 1  Australia Henry Frayne
1  Brazil Alexsandro Melo
1  France Augustin Bey
1  Italy Filippo Randazzo
1  Spain Eusebio Cáceres
1  Ukraine Vladyslav Mazur
1  Germany Fabian Heinle
Universality Places 1  Albania Izmir Smajlaj
1  Uruguay Emiliano Lasa
Total 32

Competition format

[edit]

The 2020 competition continued to use the two-round format with divided final introduced in 1952. The qualifying round gave each competitor three jumps to achieve the qualifying distance of 8.15 metres; if fewer than 12 men did so, the top 12 (including all those tied) advanced. 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 are not considered for the final).[6]

Records

[edit]

Prior to this competition, the existing global and area records are as follows.

World record  Mike Powell (USA) 8.95 Tokyo, Japan 30 August 1991
Olympic record  Bob Beamon (USA) 8.90 Mexico City, Mexico 18 October 1968
World Leading  Miltiadis Tentoglou (GRE) 8.60 Athens, Greece 26 May 2021
Area Distance (m) Wind Athlete Nation
Africa (records) 8.65 +1.3 Luvo Manyonga  South Africa
Asia (records) 8.48 +0.6 Mohamed Salman Al-Khuwalidi  Saudi Arabia
Europe (records) 8.86 +1.9 Robert Emmiyan  Soviet Union
North, Central America
and Caribbean
(records)
8.95 WR +0.3 Mike Powell  United States
Oceania (records) 8.54 +1.7 Mitchell Watt  Australia
South America (records) 8.73 +1.2 Irving Saladino  Panama

Schedule

[edit]

All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)

The men's long jump took place over two separate days.[1]

Date Time Round
Saturday, 31 July 2021 19:00 Qualifying
Monday, 2 August 2021 9:00 Final

Results

[edit]

Qualifying

[edit]

Qualification Rules: Qualifying performance 8.15 (Q) or at least 12 best performers (q) advance to the Final.

Rank Group Athlete Nation 1 2 3 Result Notes
1 B Juan Miguel Echevarría  Cuba 8.50 8.50 Q, SB
2 B Miltiadis Tentoglou  Greece 8.22 8.22 Q
3 A Yuki Hashioka  Japan 8.17 8.17 Q
4 B Tajay Gayle  Jamaica x 6.72 8.14 8.14 q
5 A JuVaughn Harrison  United States 8.13 8.02 8.13 q
6 A Filippo Randazzo  Italy 8.10 x 8.10 q, SB
7 A Maykel Massó  Cuba 8.07 8.00 7.92 8.07 q
8 B Thobias Montler  Sweden 7.82 x 8.01 8.01 q
9 B Eusebio Cáceres  Spain 7.98 7.75 7.98 q
10 B Huang Changzhou  China 7.75 7.59 7.96 7.96 q
B Fabian Heinle  Germany 7.80 7.96 7.84 7.96 q, SB
B Kristian Pulli  Finland 7.71 7.96 x 7.96 q
13 A Emiliano Lasa  Uruguay 7.85 7.95 7.78 7.95
14 A Henry Frayne  Australia 7.82 7.82 7.93 7.93
15 A Steffin McCarter  United States 7.69 7.81 7.92 7.92
16 A Samory Fraga  Brazil 7.88 x x 7.88
17 B Gao Xinglong  China x 7.86 7.86 7.86
A Izmir Smajlaj  Albania 7.81 7.86 x 7.86
19 B Marquis Dendy  United States x 7.78 7.85 7.85
20 A Wang Jianan  China 7.59 7.81 7.64 7.81
21 A Carey McLeod  Jamaica x 7.75 7.36 7.75
22 B Ruswahl Samaai  South Africa 7.70 7.74 x 7.74
23 A Shoutarou Shiroyama  Japan 6.24 7.70 x 7.70
24 B Murali Sreeshankar  India 7.69 7.51 7.43 7.69
B Lester Lescay  Cuba 7.69 x 7.63 7.69
26 B Hibiki Tsuha  Japan 7.52 7.61 7.55 7.61
27 A Vladyslav Mazur  Ukraine 7.60 7.54 7.58 7.60
28 A Bachana Khorava  Georgia 7.41 7.35 7.17 7.41
29 B Alexsandro Melo  Brazil x x 6.95 6.95
A Augustin Bey  France x x x NM
A Cheswill Johnson  South Africa x x x NM
B Andwuelle Wright  Trinidad and Tobago DNS

Final

[edit]
Rank Athlete Nation 1 2 3 4 5 6 Result Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) Miltiadis Tentoglou  Greece 8.11 x x 8.10 8.15 8.41 8.41 Won on countback over Echevarría with a better second-best jump.
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Juan Miguel Echevarría  Cuba 8.09 x 8.41 6.71 x 8.41 Pulled up on last attempt.
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Maykel Massó  Cuba 8.21 8.05 8.21 Unable to continue due to injury.
4 Eusebio Cáceres  Spain 7.96 8.09 x x 8.12 8.18 8.18 SB
5 JuVaughn Harrison  United States 7.57 7.70 7.96 7.87 8.15 7.49 8.15
6 Yuki Hashioka  Japan x 7.95 7.97 x 7.94 8.10 8.10
7 Thobias Montler  Sweden 8.08 7.93 x 8.05 x x 8.08
8 Filippo Randazzo  Italy x 7.99 x x 7.88 x 7.99
9 Kristian Pulli  Finland 7.85 7.92 7.88 Did not advance 7.92
10 Huang Changzhou  China x 7.50 7.72 Did not advance 7.72
11 Tajay Gayle  Jamaica x x 7.69 Did not advance 7.69
12 Fabian Heinle  Germany 5.18 7.57 7.62 Did not advance 7.62

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "Athletics Competition Schedule". Tokyo 2020. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d "Qualification System – Games of the XXXI Olympiad – Athletics" (PDF). IAAF. Retrieved 31 March 2019.
  3. ^ "Long Jump, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  4. ^ "IAAF to follow other sports with world ranking system for athletes". BBC Sport. 7 March 2018. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  5. ^ "Olympic qualification period suspended until 1 December 2020". World Athletics. 6 April 2020. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  6. ^ "Athletics Explanatory Guide". Tokyo 2020. August 2019.