Bob Beamon

Robert "Bob" Beamon

Robert "Bob" Beamon, 1992
Personal information
Nationality	United States
Born	(1946-08-29) August 29, 1946 (age 70) South Jamaica, Queens, New York
Height	6 ft 3 in (191 cm)
Weight	150 lb (68 kg)
Sport
Sport	Track and field
Event(s)	Long jump
College team	UTEP Miners
Medal record Representing the  United States Olympic Games 1968 Mexico City Long jump Pan American Games 1967 Winnipeg Long jump
Updated on 6 August 2012.

Robert "Bob" Beamon (born August 29, 1946) is an American former track and field athlete, best known for his world record in the long jump at the Mexico Olympics in 1968. He broke the existing record by a margin of 55 cm (21¾ in.) and his world record stood for almost 23 years until it was broken in 1991 by Mike Powell.

Robert "Bob" Beamon was born in South Jamaica, Queens, New York.

When he was attending Jamaica High School he was discovered by Larry Ellis, a renowned track coach. Beamon later became part of the All-American track and field team. Beamon would begin his college career at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, to be close to his ill grandmother. After her death, he would transfer to the University of Texas at El Paso where he received a track and field scholarship.

In 1965 Beamon set a national high school triple jump record and was 2nd in the nation in the long jump. In 1967 he won the AAU indoor title and earned a silver medal at the Pan American Games, both in the long jump.

Beamon was suspended from the University of Texas at El Paso, for refusing to compete against Brigham Young University, alleging it had racist policies. This left him without a coach, and fellow Olympian Ralph Boston began to coach him unofficially.

Beamon entered the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City as the favorite, having won 22 of the 23 meets he had competed in that year, including a career best of 8.33 m (equivalent to 27 ft. 4 in.) and a world's best of 8.39 m (27 ft. 6½ in.) that was ineligible for the record books due to excessive wind assistance. That year he won the AAU and NCAA indoor long jump and triple jump titles, as well as the AAU outdoor long jump title. He came close to missing the Olympic final, overstepping on his first two attempts in qualifying. With only one chance left, Beamon re-measured his approach run from a spot in front of the board and made a fair jump that advanced him to the final. There he faced the two previous gold-medal winners, American Ralph Boston (1960) and Lynn Davies of Great Britain (1964), and twice bronze medallist Igor Ter-Ovanesyan of the Soviet Union.