Message text written by Phil Weishaar >While Beamons 29' jump was well beyond anything I thought was possible, his breaking the world record was not a surprise to me after watching him jump in the preliminary rounds in the days before. Beamon had fouled on his first 2 jumps and took a safe 5 steps approach that had all the speed of a jog. He took off and jumped 26' 11 1/2" to qualify on his 3rd jump. I remember watching that jump and going out of my mind thinking of the possibilities. 26' 11 1/2" on a POP_UP. I also remember Jim McKay of ABC announcing the attempt and reacting that ,whew, Beamon got a safe jump in and I hope it is long enough to qualify. I believe the world record at the time was 27' 5. I knew Beamon would go past that during the finals if he hit the board. <
I was thinking the same thing for the same reasons. As I recall, at least one of those fouls was a monster, and his "safe" jump was as you described it. As Beamon was preparing for his first jump in the final, he was fiercely concentrating and just looked ready. I turned to the Brits sitting next to me and said "Watch this -- 28 feet -first jump." I then turned around to the French guys sitting behind me and said (in French) 8.50-8.60 -- first jump. They all looked at me as if I were a total lunatic. After the measurement was posted, I was too caught up in the excitement and the celebration of the moment to say "I told you so." And in truth, I hadn't come close. Bob H
